State law reference
Ohio Dormant Mineral Act
What does the Ohio Dormant Mineral Act say? Ohio's Dormant Mineral Act lets a surface owner take over a severed mineral interest only through notice. The interest can be deemed abandoned if none of the listed savings events happened in the 20 years before the surface owner's notice and the holder does not respond within 60 days. Nothing is lost by the passage of time alone.
Official text cited Researched and checked by American Mineral Registry against the official text; review completed October 1, 2026. Reference research, not legal advice.
- Rule type
- Dormant mineral statute
- Period
- 20 years
- Ends without a surface owner step
- No
- Preservation filing
- Available
- Forced pooling statute
- Statute found
Official text cited - Surface damages statute
- No statute found
- Deceased or unlocated owner
- Partly checked
How the rule works
Dormant Mineral Act, surface owner notice with a 20 year look back. R.C. 5301.56 lets the surface owner take over a severed mineral interest held by someone else, but only through a notice and recording procedure. The interest is deemed abandoned and vests in the surface owner if none of six savings events occurred in the 20 years immediately preceding the date the surface owner's notice is served or published, and the holder does not record a claim to preserve or a savings event affidavit within 60 days after that notice. Coal interests and interests held by the United States, Ohio or a political subdivision are excluded. Nothing lapses by the passage of time alone: the Supreme Court of Ohio held the 1989 version was not self executing, and the 2006 procedure governs every claim asserted after June 30, 2006.
What has to happen
Surface owner serves notice of intent to declare the interest abandoned by certified mail, return receipt requested, on each holder or successor at the last known address; if service cannot be completed to any holder, publishes the notice at least once in a newspaper of general circulation in each county where the land lies (R.C. 5301.56(E)(1)). The notice must contain the items in (F), including a statement that no (B)(3) event occurred in the 20 years preceding notice. At least 30 but not later than 60 days after service or publication, the surface owner records an affidavit of abandonment with the (G) contents (R.C. 5301.56(E)(2)). Within 60 days after service or publication the holder may record a claim to preserve or an affidavit identifying a (B)(3) event in the window, and must notify the surface owner (R.C. 5301.56(H)(1)). If the holder does not file in time, the surface owner records a notice of failure to file, and on recording the interest vests in the surface owner, only as to that owner's property (R.C. 5301.56(H)(2)). No court action is required by the statute. Before relying on publication the surface owner must use reasonable diligence to identify and locate holders, judged case by case, with county property and court records, including probate, as the usual baseline (Gerrity v. Chervenak, 2020-Ohio-6705).
What counts as use or preserves the interest
(B)(3)(a) The mineral interest has been the subject of a title transaction filed or recorded with the recorder of the county where the lands are located. A recorded oil and gas lease is such a title transaction; the unrecorded expiration of a recorded lease is not (Chesapeake Exploration v. Buell, 2015-Ohio-4551, syllabus).
(B)(3)(b) Actual production or withdrawal of minerals by the holder from the lands, from lands covered by a lease to which the interest is subject, from a mine partly beneath the lands, or, for oil or gas, from lands pooled, unitized or in unit operations under R.C. 1509.26 to 1509.28 in which the interest participates, if the pooling or unitization instrument or order is recorded in the county.
(B)(3)(c) The mineral interest has been used in underground gas storage operations by the holder.
(B)(3)(d) A drilling or mining permit under R.C. Chapter 1509, 1513 or 1514 has been issued to the holder, if an affidavit stating the permit holder, permit number, permit type and a legal description of the lands is recorded in the county under R.C. 5301.252.
(B)(3)(e) A claim to preserve has been filed under R.C. 5301.56(C).
(B)(3)(f) For a separated mineral interest, a separately listed tax parcel number has been created for it on the county auditor's tax list and the county treasurer's duplicate tax list.
After notice, R.C. 5301.56(H)(1): within 60 days after service or publication, the holder records either a claim to preserve under (C) or an affidavit identifying a (B)(3) event in the 20 years preceding the notice. A timely claim to preserve alone is enough (Dodd v. Croskey, 2015-Ohio-2362; Walker v. Shondrick-Nau, 2016-Ohio-5793).
Preservation filing
Claim to preserve under R.C. 5301.56(C), filed for record by a holder with the county recorder and recorded under R.C. 5301.56(H), 317.18 to 317.20 and 5301.52. It must state the nature of the mineral interest claimed and any recording information on which the claim is based, otherwise comply with R.C. 5301.52, and state that the holder does not intend to abandon, but instead to preserve, the holder's rights. One compliant claim preserves the rights of all holders of a mineral interest in the same lands; a gas storage holder may file a single claim for the whole storage field. Filed before any notice it is a savings event for 20 years; filed within 60 days after a notice it defeats that notice.
Scope
- Interests covered
- Any mineral interest, defined as a fee interest in at least one mineral, however created, absolute or fractional, divided or undivided (R.C. 5301.56(A)(3)), held by a person other than the owner of the surface (R.C. 5301.56(B)). Holder includes the record holder and anyone deriving rights from or sharing a common source with the record holder whose claim is not adverse (R.C. 5301.56(A)(1)). Whether royalty or leasehold interests are fee interests within (A)(3) was not resolved in the material read.
- Minerals covered
- All minerals as defined in R.C. 5301.56(A)(4): gas, oil, coal, coalbed methane gas, other hydrocarbons, sand, gravel, clay, shale, gypsum, halite, limestone, dolomite, sandstone, other stone, metalliferous or nonmetalliferous ore, and other commercially valuable material excavated in a solid state. Interests in coal are excluded by (B)(1), so in practice it reaches oil, gas and non coal minerals.
- Exceptions
Coal: an interest in coal, or in mining or other rights pertinent to or exercisable in connection with an interest in coal, as described in R.C. 5301.53(E). Where one interest covers coal and other minerals, the non coal part can still be deemed abandoned (R.C. 5301.56(B)(1)).
Government: interests held by the United States, Ohio, or any political subdivision, body politic or agency of either, as described in R.C. 5301.53(G) (R.C. 5301.56(B)(2)).
Vesting is effective only as to the property of the surface owner who filed the affidavit of abandonment (R.C. 5301.56(H)(2)).
A claim to preserve does not affect a lessor's right to obtain forfeiture of an oil or gas lease under R.C. 5301.332 (R.C. 5301.56(D)(2)).
- Enactment and amendments
- Enacted by Sub.S.B. 223 (117th General Assembly), effective March 22, 1989 according to Walker v. Shondrick-Nau at paragraph 8 (the official code page for the companion R.C. 5301.53 shows March 23, 1989), with a three year grace period before any interest could be deemed abandoned, to March 22, 1992 (former R.C. 5301.56(B)(2), Walker footnote 2). Rewritten by Sub.H.B. 288 (151 Ohio Laws, Part III, 5960, cited in Dodd footnote 3), effective June 30, 2006, which added the notice, affidavit and 60 day response procedure; under Corban the 2006 version applies to every claim asserted after June 30, 2006, including claims that an interest was abandoned before then. Current text effective January 30, 2014 (House Bill 72, 130th General Assembly), word for word the same in official site snapshots of March 12, 2025 and July 8, 2025. 2019 H.B. 100 (133rd General Assembly), which proposed to amend the section, shows only its introduced version on its official status page and was not enacted.
Dates and what they mean
No loss date can be computed from a last use date alone in Ohio. The look back period is counted from a notice the surface owner chooses to give, and the owner of record can still respond after it. The dormant mineral rule finder shows the look back window and response period once you enter an actual notice date.
No date can be computed from a single last use date. Abandonment can only follow a surface owner's notice, and the 20 year window is counted back from the date that notice is served or published, which the holder does not control and which may never happen. Even with no savings event in the window, a claim to preserve recorded within 60 days after notice defeats it. Last use plus 20 years is therefore only the earliest date from which a notice could find an empty window; it is not a deadline or a loss date and must not be shown as window closed. Given an actual notice date, a calculator could show the window start (notice date minus 20 years), the holder's response deadline (60 days after service or publication) and the surface owner's affidavit window (30 to 60 days after notice). The Marketable Title Act question listed under Open questions for a specialist runs on a different, 40 year root of title computation.
Deceased or unlocated owner
Partly checked What the law of Ohio says when the owner of record has died, is unknown, or cannot be found. It sets out the questions; it does not decide who owns an interest, whether a notice was valid, or whether an interest ended.
Why only partly checked. The Marketable Title Act route kept open by West v. Bode, and Supreme Court of Ohio decisions after Gerrity, were not reviewed for owner status.
Ohio's Dormant Mineral Act, R.C. 5301.56, treats heirs and successors of the record owner as holders who must receive notice by certified mail at the last known address, and allows newspaper publication when service cannot be completed. The Supreme Court of Ohio held in Gerrity v. Chervenak (2020) that a surface owner must use reasonable diligence, generally a search of county property and probate records, and may then publish to unknown or unlocated holders without naming them. Any holder or successor can stop the process by recording a claim to preserve within 60 days after notice. Nothing in the statute or these decisions says death changes the 20 year look back.
- Owner of record has died
- The heirs or devisees of a deceased record owner are holders (R.C. 5301.56(A)(1), Gerrity paragraph 15) and must be served as the holder's successors or assignees if they can be identified by reasonable diligence. In Gerrity, notice mailed to the deceased owner's last record address was returned, the county records showed no death or heir, and publication was upheld. Whether mail to a decedent is effective when the surface owner knows of the death is not settled by the sources read.
- Current owner unknown
- Holders whose identity cannot be found after a reasonable search may be notified by publication, including as a class of unknown heirs, without being named (Gerrity paragraphs 19, 21, 41).
- Owner known but cannot be found
- Holders who are identified but whose address cannot be found after a reasonable search may be notified by publication without a prior certified mail attempt (Gerrity paragraphs 24, 41).
How the nonuse rule treats these owners Statute and court decisions
The Dormant Mineral Act lets a surface owner reunite a non coal severed interest only by serving or publishing notice, recording an affidavit of abandonment and, if no timely preserving filing is made, recording a notice of failure to file. Nothing lapses automatically. The statute and the decisions read do not say that a holder's death pauses, resets or extends the 20 year look back. Separately, the Supreme Court of Ohio treats the Marketable Title Act as an independent, alternative route (West v. Bode, 2020); this record does not analyze how that route treats a deceased or unlocated owner.
Statute
A severed mineral interest is deemed abandoned and vested in the surface owner only if the notice and affidavit steps of division (E) are satisfied and no exception applies. R.C. 5301.56(B)
“Any mineral interest held by any person, other than the owner of the surface of the lands subject to the interest, shall be deemed abandoned and vested in the owner of the surface of the lands subject to the interest if the requirements established in division (E) of this section are satisfied”
Scope: Applies to severed mineral interests other than coal and other than interests held by the United States, Ohio or a political subdivision (R.C. 5301.56(B)(1), (B)(2)); statute in force since January 30, 2014 per the code page.
The savings events are measured over the twenty years immediately preceding the date the notice is served or published. R.C. 5301.56(B)(3)
“Within the twenty years immediately preceding the date on which notice is served or published under division (E) of this section, one or more of the following has occurred:”
Scope: Applies to severed mineral interests other than coal and other than interests held by the United States, Ohio or a political subdivision (R.C. 5301.56(B)(1), (B)(2)); statute in force since January 30, 2014 per the code page. The statute does not say that a holder's death pauses, resets or extends this period.
The surface owner must record an affidavit of abandonment no sooner than 30 and no later than 60 days after notice is served or published. R.C. 5301.56(E)(2)
“At least thirty, but not later than sixty days after the date on which the notice required under division (E)(1) of this section is served or published, as applicable, file in the office of the county recorder of each county in which the surface of the land that is subject to the interest is located an affidavit of abandonment”
Scope: Applies to severed mineral interests other than coal and other than interests held by the United States, Ohio or a political subdivision (R.C. 5301.56(B)(1), (B)(2)); statute in force since January 30, 2014 per the code page.
The interest vests in the surface owner immediately after the surface owner records a notice of failure to file. R.C. 5301.56(H)(2)
“Immediately after the notice of failure to file a mineral interest is recorded, the mineral interest shall vest in the owner of the surface of the lands formerly subject to the interest”
Scope: Applies to severed mineral interests other than coal and other than interests held by the United States, Ohio or a political subdivision (R.C. 5301.56(B)(1), (B)(2)); statute in force since January 30, 2014 per the code page.
Court decisions
The notice and affidavit duties are mandatory, and an interest cannot be deemed abandoned if the holder was not provided notice. Albanese v. Batman, 148 Ohio St.3d 85, 2016-Ohio-5814, paragraph 20
“The mineral rights cannot be deemed abandoned if the mineral-rights holder has not been provided notice.”
Scope: Supreme Court of Ohio; controls statewide. Read with Gerrity (2020), which holds that publication after a reasonable search satisfies the notice duty for unidentified or unlocated holders.
Dormant interests did not pass automatically under the 1989 law; any surface owner claiming after June 30, 2006 must follow the 2006 notice and recording procedure. Corban v. Chesapeake Exploration, L.L.C., 149 Ohio St.3d 512, 2016-Ohio-5796, paragraph 31
“Thus, as of June 30, 2006, any surface holder seeking to claim dormant mineral rights and merge them with the surface estate is required to follow the statutory notice and recording procedures enacted in 2006 by H.B. 288.”
Scope: Supreme Court of Ohio, answering a certified question; controls statewide.
The Supreme Court of Ohio held that the Marketable Title Act and the Dormant Mineral Act are independent, alternative ways to reunite a severed mineral interest with the surface. West v. Bode, 162 Ohio St.3d 293, 2020-Ohio-5473, paragraph 2
“we must apply them as the General Assembly wrote them—as independent, alternative statutory mechanisms that may be used to reunite severed mineral interests with the surface property subject to those interests.”
Scope: Severed oil and gas interests in Ohio. The opinion does not address deceased, unknown or unlocated owners; how the Marketable Title Act's 40 year record chain applies to them was not reviewed.
Heirs, devisees and successors Statute and court decisions
Holder is defined broadly to include anyone deriving rights from the record holder. The Supreme Court of Ohio treated the unrecorded sole heir of a deceased record owner as a holder.
Statute
The statute defines holder to include the record holder and anyone who derives rights from, or shares a common source with, the record holder without claiming adversely. R.C. 5301.56(A)(1)
“"Holder" means the record holder of a mineral interest, and any person who derives the person's rights from, or has a common source with, the record holder and whose claim does not indicate, expressly or by clear implication, that it is adverse to the interest of the record holder.”
Scope: Applies to severed mineral interests other than coal and other than interests held by the United States, Ohio or a political subdivision (R.C. 5301.56(B)(1), (B)(2)); statute in force since January 30, 2014 per the code page. The definition does not itself mention death, heirs or probate.
Court decisions
The sole heir and successor of a deceased record owner qualifies as a holder under R.C. 5301.56(A)(1). Gerrity v. Chervenak, 162 Ohio St.3d 694, 2020-Ohio-6705, paragraph 15
“As Richards's sole heir and as successor to her interest in the mineral rights, Gerrity qualifies as a "holder" under R.C. 5301.56(A)(1).”
Scope: Supreme Court of Ohio; controls statewide. Decided on facts where the county property and probate records showed no sign of the record owner's death or of any heir. Applies R.C. 5301.56(E) as amended in 2006. The heir had inherited through a Florida probate that was never recorded in the Ohio county.
Search required to find the owner Court decision
The statute sets no search standard. Gerrity requires reasonable diligence, generally met by searching county property and court records including probate, with further searching only where the surface owner's knowledge or the records point elsewhere. No bright line internet or genealogy search requirement.
Court decisions
A surface owner must use reasonable diligence to identify all holders, but failing to identify or locate all of them does not by itself defeat the act. Gerrity, 2020-Ohio-6705, paragraph 41
“A surface owner attempting to comply with R.C. 5301.56(E) must exercise reasonable diligence to identify all holders of the severed mineral interest, but the inability to identify or locate all such holders does not, in itself, preclude application of the Dormant Mineral Act.”
Scope: Supreme Court of Ohio; controls statewide. Decided on facts where the county property and probate records showed no sign of the record owner's death or of any heir. Applies R.C. 5301.56(E) as amended in 2006.
A review of public property and court records in the county where the land lies will generally establish a baseline of reasonable diligence. Gerrity, 2020-Ohio-6705, paragraph 36
“Review of publicly-available property and court records in the county where the land subject to a severed mineral interest is located will generally establish a baseline of reasonable diligence in identifying the holder or holders of the severed mineral interest.”
Scope: Supreme Court of Ohio; controls statewide. Decided on facts where the county property and probate records showed no sign of the record owner's death or of any heir. Applies R.C. 5301.56(E) as amended in 2006. Paragraph 35 adds that a reasonable search will generally include probate records in that county.
The surface owner's own knowledge or what the records reveal may require searching further, depending on the circumstances of each case. Gerrity, 2020-Ohio-6705, paragraph 36
“There may, however, be circumstances in which the surface owner's independent knowledge or information revealed by the surface owner's review of the property and court records would require the surface owner, in the exercise of reasonable diligence, to continue looking elsewhere to identify or locate a holder.”
Scope: Supreme Court of Ohio; controls statewide. Decided on facts where the county property and probate records showed no sign of the record owner's death or of any heir. Applies R.C. 5301.56(E) as amended in 2006. The court held no further search was required on its facts and refused a bright line rule (paragraph 31).
The court declined to require an internet search or any paid genealogy service as a matter of law. Gerrity, 2020-Ohio-6705, paragraph 34
“all weigh against a bright-line requirement for online searches, let alone a bright-line requirement that a surface owner consult any particular paid subscription services, to identify heirs to a severed mineral interest.”
Scope: Supreme Court of Ohio; controls statewide. Decided on facts where the county property and probate records showed no sign of the record owner's death or of any heir. Applies R.C. 5301.56(E) as amended in 2006. This is a refusal to impose a rule, not a holding that online searches are never needed.
Who gets notice, and how Statute and court decisions
Certified mail, return receipt requested, to each holder or the holder's successors or assignees at the last known address, naming them as applicable. Notice is mandatory. Neither the statute nor Gerrity holds in general terms whether mail addressed to a deceased holder is valid notice; in Gerrity the mail to the dead owner's last address came back undeliverable and the surface owner then published.
Statute
The surface owner must serve notice by certified mail, return receipt requested, on each holder or the holder's successors or assignees at the last known address of each. R.C. 5301.56(E)(1)
“Serve notice by certified mail, return receipt requested, to each holder or each holder's successors or assignees, at the last known address of each, of the owner's intent to declare the mineral interest abandoned.”
Scope: Applies to severed mineral interests other than coal and other than interests held by the United States, Ohio or a political subdivision (R.C. 5301.56(B)(1), (B)(2)); statute in force since January 30, 2014 per the code page. The text does not say whether notice addressed to a deceased holder is effective.
The notice must name each holder and the holder's successors and assignees, as applicable. R.C. 5301.56(F)(1)
“The name of each holder and the holder's successors and assignees, as applicable;”
Scope: Applies to severed mineral interests other than coal and other than interests held by the United States, Ohio or a political subdivision (R.C. 5301.56(B)(1), (B)(2)); statute in force since January 30, 2014 per the code page.
Court decisions
The notice and affidavit duties are mandatory, and an interest cannot be deemed abandoned if the holder was not provided notice. Albanese v. Batman, 148 Ohio St.3d 85, 2016-Ohio-5814, paragraph 20
“The mineral rights cannot be deemed abandoned if the mineral-rights holder has not been provided notice.”
Scope: Supreme Court of Ohio; controls statewide. Read with Gerrity (2020), which holds that publication after a reasonable search satisfies the notice duty for unidentified or unlocated holders.
Notice by publication Statute and court decisions
Publication once in a newspaper of general circulation in each county is allowed when service cannot be completed to any holder. After a reasonable unsuccessful search, the surface owner may publish without first mailing to unknown or unlocated holders, and may publish to classes of unknown holders.
Statute
If service cannot be completed to any holder, the surface owner must publish notice at least once in a newspaper of general circulation in each county where the land lies. R.C. 5301.56(E)(1)
“If service of notice cannot be completed to any holder, the owner shall publish notice of the owner's intent to declare the mineral interest abandoned at least once in a newspaper of general circulation in each county in which the land that is subject to the interest is located.”
Scope: Applies to severed mineral interests other than coal and other than interests held by the United States, Ohio or a political subdivision (R.C. 5301.56(B)(1), (B)(2)); statute in force since January 30, 2014 per the code page. The text sets no search requirement before publication; see the case law propositions.
Court decisions
When a reasonable search fails to reveal holders' names or addresses, the surface owner may publish and need not first attempt certified mail to those holders. Gerrity, 2020-Ohio-6705, paragraph 41
“When a surface owner's reasonable search fails to reveal the names or addresses of holders of the mineral interest, the surface owner may provide notice by publication, pursuant to R.C. 5301.56(E)(1), and need not attempt to serve the unknown or unlocated holders by certified mail.”
Scope: Supreme Court of Ohio; controls statewide. Decided on facts where the county property and probate records showed no sign of the record owner's death or of any heir. Applies R.C. 5301.56(E) as amended in 2006.
Nothing in the statute precludes publication to notify classes of unknown or potential holders. Gerrity, 2020-Ohio-6705, paragraph 21
“And again, nothing in the statutory text precludes the use of publication to notify classes of unknown or potential holders.”
Scope: Supreme Court of Ohio; controls statewide. Decided on facts where the county property and probate records showed no sign of the record owner's death or of any heir. Applies R.C. 5301.56(E) as amended in 2006. The surface owner need not name every holder in the notice (paragraph 19).
How the owner responds or preserves Statute and court decisions
Within 60 days after notice is served or published, a holder or successor or assignee records a claim to preserve or a savings event affidavit and notifies the surface owner. A timely claim to preserve alone defeats abandonment, and a compliant claim preserves the rights of all holders of the interest.
Statute
A holder or the holder's successors or assignees who claim the interest is not abandoned must, within 60 days after notice is served or published, record a claim to preserve or an affidavit identifying a savings event. R.C. 5301.56(H)(1)
“the holder or the holder's successors or assignees, not later than sixty days after the date on which the notice was served or published, as applicable, shall file in the office of the county recorder of each county where the land that is subject to the mineral interest is located one of the following:”
Scope: Applies to severed mineral interests other than coal and other than interests held by the United States, Ohio or a political subdivision (R.C. 5301.56(B)(1), (B)(2)); statute in force since January 30, 2014 per the code page.
A compliant claim to preserve preserves the rights of all holders of a mineral interest in the same lands. R.C. 5301.56(C)(2)
“A claim that complies with division (C)(1) of this section or, if applicable, divisions (C)(1) and (3) of this section preserves the rights of all holders of a mineral interest in the same lands.”
Scope: Applies to severed mineral interests other than coal and other than interests held by the United States, Ohio or a political subdivision (R.C. 5301.56(B)(1), (B)(2)); statute in force since January 30, 2014 per the code page.
Court decisions
A claim to preserve recorded within 60 days after the surface owner's notice prevents abandonment even if no savings event occurred in the prior 20 years. Dodd v. Croskey, 143 Ohio St.3d 293, 2015-Ohio-2362, paragraph 37
“We hold that a mineral-interest holder's claim to preserve filed pursuant to R.C. 5301.56(H)(1)(a) is sufficient to preclude the mineral interests from being deemed abandoned if filed within 60 days after notice of the surface owner's intent to declare those interests abandoned.”
Scope: Supreme Court of Ohio; controls statewide. Does not address deceased, unknown or unlocated holders specifically.
Court, receivership or trust for missing owners Not addressed in the provisions read
No separate receivership, trust, escrow or leasing mechanism for unknown or unlocated mineral owners was found in the provisions read. R.C. 1509.27 (mandatory pooling) contains none. Other routes such as quiet title, probate and the Marketable Title Act were not reviewed for this question.
Statute
The mandatory pooling section read contains no provision for unknown, unlocated or missing mineral owners; it directs the chief to notify mineral rights owners of tracts in the proposed pool. R.C. 1509.27
“The chief shall notify all mineral rights owners of tracts within the area proposed to be pooled by an order and included within the drilling unit of”
Scope: Applies to mandatory pooling applications only. Cited to show what the section says, not as an unknown owner mechanism.
What a title review must establish
- Did the surface owner search county property and court records, including probate, in the county where the land lies before publishing?
- Did the surface owner know, or did the records reveal, facts such as a death, an out of county probate or a new address that called for a wider search?
- Was certified mail sent to every identified holder and successor at the last known address, and what happened to each mailing?
- Was the notice published at least once in a newspaper of general circulation in every county where the land lies, and does it describe unknown heirs as a class where names were not found?
- Was the affidavit of abandonment recorded 30 to 60 days after service or publication, and was a notice of failure to file recorded?
- Did any holder, heir or successor record a claim to preserve or savings event affidavit within 60 days after notice, or a savings event within the 20 years before notice?
Dates. R.C. 5301.56(B)(3): savings events count if they occurred within the twenty years immediately preceding the date on which notice is served or published. (E)(2): affidavit of abandonment at least thirty, but not later than sixty days after the notice is served or published. (H)(1): holder's claim to preserve or savings event affidavit not later than sixty days after the date the notice was served or published. (H)(2): vesting immediately after the notice of failure to file is recorded. Corban: the 2006 procedure governs claims asserted after June 30, 2006. None of these provisions mentions death of the holder. The rule finder does not calculate this period.
What AMR searched. Read in full: R.C. 5301.56 (codes.ohio.gov, archived March 12, 2025) and R.C. 1509.27 (archived April 28, 2025). Read: Gerrity v. Chervenak 2020-Ohio-6705 (full opinion), Dodd v. Croskey 2015-Ohio-2362 (paragraphs 26 to 37), Albanese v. Batman 2016-Ohio-5814 (paragraphs 15 to 22), Corban 2016-Ohio-5796 (syllabus line and paragraph 31). CourtListener search of Supreme Court of Ohio opinions citing "5301.56" listed 20 results; West v. Bode, Erickson v. Morrison, Fonzi v. Brown, Peppertree Farms and Senterra were listed but not read because their headings concern savings events and the Marketable Title Act. R.C. 1509.28 (unitization), R.C. 2703.24, Civ.R. 4.4, probate, quiet title and the Marketable Title Act were not reviewed for unknown owner provisions. A point marked not addressed means only that the provisions read do not address it; probate, quiet title and other general procedures may still apply and were not reviewed.
Not settled by this review.
How the Marketable Title Act route (R.C. 5301.47 to 5301.55), which West v. Bode keeps available alongside the Dormant Mineral Act, applies to a deceased, unknown or unlocated owner. Requires case-specific review.
Whether notice mailed to a holder the surface owner knows or should know is dead satisfies R.C. 5301.56(E)(1); Gerrity decided only a case where the records gave no sign of death.
Whether any Supreme Court of Ohio decision after Gerrity (2021 to 2026) refines the reasonable diligence standard; West v. Bode, Erickson, Fonzi and Peppertree were not read.
Seventh and Fifth District decisions (Shilts v. Beardmore, Sharp v. Miller) are discussed in Gerrity but were not read and are not controlling statewide.
Whether R.C. 1509.28 unitization orders or Ohio unclaimed funds law hold proceeds for unknown mineral owners; not reviewed.
Checked October 6, 2026. Also in the dormant mineral rule finder.
Forced pooling
Official text cited R.C. 1509.27 lets an owner whose tract is too small or oddly shaped to meet spacing rules, and who cannot form a voluntary drilling unit on a just and equitable basis, apply to the Division of Oil and Gas Resources Management for a mandatory pooling order; after notice to the mineral owners and a hearing or 30 days, the chief may pool the tracts, with a nonparticipating owner's costs recovered from production up to a total of 200 percent of its share of costs, and no surface operations may occur on a pooled tract without the surface owner's written consent or agreement. R.C. 1509.28 separately allows unit operation of a pool on application backed by owners of at least 65 percent of the land area, effective only when approved by owners paying 65 percent of costs and by royalty or unleased fee owners of 65 percent of the acreage.
- R.C. 1509.27 (effective September 29, 2015, House Bill 64, 131st General Assembly)
- R.C. 1509.28(A)(1) (effective July 21, 2022, House Bill 397, 134th General Assembly)
Surface damages
No statute found No Ohio statute was identified that requires an oil and gas operator to give the surface owner notice of drilling and compensate it for surface damage or lost use, in the way North Dakota chapter 38-11.1 does. Chapter 1509 does impose a duty to restore the disturbed surface (R.C. 1509.072), a complaint route for failure to restore (R.C. 1509.32), a duty to replace or compensate for a water supply damaged by oil or gas operations (R.C. 1509.22(F)), mailed notice of urban well permit applications to owners of parcels within 500 feet (R.C. 1509.06(A)(9)), and a bar on surface operations on a tract pooled by order without the surface owner's written consent (R.C. 1509.27).
Searched: Official Ohio Revised Code chapter 1509 (Oil and Gas), full text on the codes.ohio.gov chapter page archived August 12, 2026: all 77 section headings read and the text searched for surface owner, owner of the surface, surface rights owner, landowner, compensat and damages. Not searched: other Revised Code titles, Ohio Administrative Code 1501:9 rules, and case law.
Taxes
Broad personal income tax: yes. Ohio allocates a nonresident's nonbusiness rents and royalties from real property to Ohio when the property is physically located in Ohio, allocates all nonbusiness income of residents to Ohio, and its 2025 instructions treat income from letting a company extract minerals from one's land as nonbusiness income when the owner is not in a related trade or business. Official text cited Source and notes.
Severance or production tax. Oil 10 cents per barrel; gas 2.5 cents per Mcf; plus a small regulatory assessment on non domestic wells. Official text cited Full record: rates, exemptions, royalty owner share and sources.
Not tax advice. Rates change and the cited source controls.
Sources for the dormant mineral rule
Each source was read on the date shown. Where an official site was not available, the official page was read through a dated Internet Archive copy and that is stated.
- R.C. 5301.56(B) and (B)(3)
“shall be deemed abandoned and vested in the owner of the surface of the lands subject to the interest if the requirements established in division (E) of this section are satisfied and none of the following applies: ... (3) Within the twenty years immediately preceding the date on which notice is served or published under division (E) of this section”
- R.C. 5301.56(E)(1)
“Serve notice by certified mail, return receipt requested, to each holder or each holder's successors or assignees, at the last known address of each, of the owner's intent to declare the mineral interest abandoned. If service of notice cannot be completed to any holder, the owner shall publish notice”
- R.C. 5301.56(H)(1)
“not later than sixty days after the date on which the notice was served or published, as applicable, shall file in the office of the county recorder of each county where the land that is subject to the mineral interest is located one of the following:”
- R.C. 5301.56(H)(2)
“Immediately after the notice of failure to file a mineral interest is recorded, the mineral interest shall vest in the owner of the surface of the lands formerly subject to the interest”
- R.C. 5301.56(D)(1)
“A mineral interest may be preserved indefinitely from being deemed abandoned under division (B) of this section by the occurrence of any of the circumstances described in division (B)(3) of this section, including, but not limited to, successive filings of claims to preserve mineral interests under division (C) of this section.”
- R.C. 5301.53(E) and (G)
“(E) Any right, title, estate, or interest in coal, and any mining or other rights pertinent to or exercisable in connection with any right, title, estate, or interest in coal; ... (G) Any right, title, or interest of the United States, of this state, or of any political subdivision, body politic, or agency of the United States or this state.”
- R.C. 5301.48 (Marketable Title Act); also currency check of R.C. 5301.56
“who has an unbroken chain of title of record to any interest in land for forty years or more, has a marketable record title to such interest”
- Corban v. Chesapeake Exploration, L.L.C., 149 Ohio St.3d 512, 2016-Ohio-5796, paragraph 31 (lead opinion)
“as of June 30, 2006, any surface holder seeking to claim dormant mineral rights and merge them with the surface estate is required to follow the statutory notice and recording procedures enacted in 2006 by H.B. 288.”
- Corban, 2016-Ohio-5796, paragraph 28 (lead opinion; Kennedy, J., agreeing at paragraph 104)
“we conclude that the 1989 law was not self-executing and did not automatically transfer ownership of dormant mineral rights by operation of law.”
- Walker v. Shondrick-Nau, 149 Ohio St.3d 282, 2016-Ohio-5793, paragraph 22
“Noon's claim to preserve, which was timely filed with the county recorder's office, was sufficient to preclude the mineral estate from being deemed abandoned and vested in the owner of the surface estate.”
- Dodd v. Croskey, 143 Ohio St.3d 293, 2015-Ohio-2362, paragraph 37
“a mineral-interest holder's claim to preserve filed pursuant to R.C. 5301.56(H)(1)(a) is sufficient to preclude the mineral interests from being deemed abandoned if filed within 60 days after notice of the surface owner's intent to declare those interests abandoned.”
- Chesapeake Exploration, L.L.C. v. Buell, 144 Ohio St.3d 490, 2015-Ohio-4551, syllabus
“1. A recorded oil and gas lease is a title transaction under R.C. 5301.56(B)(3)(a). 2. The unrecorded expiration of a recorded oil and gas lease and the accompanying reversion to the lessor of rights granted by the lease is not a title transaction that restarts the 20-year clock under the Dormant Mineral Act, R.C. 5301.56.”
- Gerrity v. Chervenak, 162 Ohio St.3d 694, 2020-Ohio-6705, paragraph 41
“A surface owner attempting to comply with R.C. 5301.56(E) must exercise reasonable diligence to identify all holders of the severed mineral interest, but the inability to identify or locate all such holders does not, in itself, preclude application of the Dormant Mineral Act.”
- Blackstone v. Moore, 155 Ohio St.3d 448, 2018-Ohio-4959, paragraph 23 (DeGenaro, J., concurring)
“Given that this question is not squarely before us, we cannot reach its merits. For now, it remains an open issue that is for this court's future review.”
- Erickson v. Morrison, 165 Ohio St.3d 76, 2021-Ohio-746, paragraph 35
“Notwithstanding its failure to name the owner of the reserved rights, this reference is sufficient to preserve them from being extinguished under Ohio's Marketable Title Act.”
- Bill status page, 2019 H.B. 100, 133rd General Assembly (not enacted)
“To amend section 5301.56 of the Revised Code to revise the requirements governing abandoned mineral rights. Current Version As Introduced”
Open questions for a specialist
This review did not settle these points. They are where an Ohio title attorney or landman should look first.
Amendments after the July 8, 2025 snapshot of the official code were not checked on the official site, which was not available when AMR checked. A web search found no 136th General Assembly bill amending R.C. 5301.56, which is not proof of absence.
What House Bill 72 (130th General Assembly, effective January 30, 2014) changed in the 2006 text was not read.
Whether the Marketable Title Act, R.C. 5301.47 to 5301.55, can still extinguish a severed oil and gas interest independently of the Dormant Mineral Act. Corban's lead opinion (paragraph 18) describes 1973 amendments under which the Act extinguished oil and gas rights 40 years after the root of title absent a savings event, Erickson (2021) applied the Act's preservation rule to a mineral reservation, and the Blackstone concurrence (2018) called continued application to minerals an open issue. Whether the Dormant Mineral Act is the only route is not settled.
Whether royalty interests and other non possessory interests are mineral interests within R.C. 5301.56(A)(3) was not resolved in the decisions read.
When a deed of the surface that repeats an earlier mineral reservation makes the mineral interest the subject of a title transaction under (B)(3)(a) was not resolved in the decisions read; Dodd (paragraph 22) and Walker (paragraph 21) expressly did not reach it.
Reasonable diligence before publication has no statutory checklist in Ohio; Gerrity declined a bright line rule, so whether a given search suffices is fact dependent.
Common questions
Can mineral rights lapse in Ohio?
Yes, but not by itself (Dormant Mineral Act, surface owner notice with a 20 year look back). In Ohio an interest ends only after the surface owner or another party takes the steps the statute requires, such as a notice or a court action, and each step, with its citation, is under How the rule works.
How long before unused mineral rights lapse in Ohio?
20 years. The 20 years immediately preceding the date on which the surface owner's notice of intent to declare the interest abandoned is served by certified mail or, if service cannot be completed, published (R.C. 5301.56(B)(3)). Any savings event in (B)(3)(a) to (f) inside that window blocks abandonment, and successive savings events, including successive claims to preserve, preserve the interest indefinitely (R.C. 5301.56(D)(1)). Separately, a claim to preserve recorded within 60 days after the notice defeats that notice even if nothing happened in the 20 year window (R.C. 5301.56(H)(1); Dodd v. Croskey, 2015-Ohio-2362).
How can an owner keep an Ohio mineral interest from lapsing?
By recording the filing the statute provides before the period runs. What it must contain and where it is recorded are under Preservation filing above.
Does Ohio allow forced pooling?
Yes. Ohio has a forced pooling statute, summarized with its citation under Forced pooling above.
Does Ohio require payment for surface damage?
A search of Ohio’s official code found no surface damages statute of that kind. Leases, deeds and general law can still give the surface owner a claim.
What changed
The June 2026 edition listed Ohio as Can lapse / revert, lapse period 20 years. Release 2026.10 replaced that entry with the reviewed rule above, and retired the June risk score and ranking for every state. Release 2026.10.1 added the deceased or unlocated owner section. See all changes.
Cite this page
American Mineral Registry. "Ohio Dormant Mineral Act." U.S. Mineral Rights Law Atlas, release 2026.10.1, October 6, 2026. https:// americanmineralregistry.com/ research/ states/ ohio-dormant-mineral-act
[Ohio Dormant Mineral Act](https:// americanmineralregistry.com/ research/ states/ ohio-dormant-mineral-act), U.S. Mineral Rights Law Atlas, American Mineral Registry, release 2026.10.1 (2026-10-06).
<a href="https:// americanmineralregistry.com/ research/ states/ ohio-dormant-mineral-act">Ohio Dormant Mineral Act</ a>, U.S. Mineral Rights Law Atlas, American Mineral Registry, release 2026.10.1 (2026-10-06).
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author = {{American Mineral Registry}},
title = {Ohio Dormant Mineral Act},
howpublished = {U.S. Mineral Rights Law Atlas, release 2026.10.1},
date = {2026-10-06},
url = {https://americanmineralregistry.com/research/states/ohio-dormant-mineral-act}
} TY - ELEC AU - American Mineral Registry TI - Ohio Dormant Mineral Act T2 - U.S. Mineral Rights Law Atlas ET - 2026.10.1 DA - 2026/10/ 06 UR - https:/ / americanmineralregistry.com/ research/ states/ ohio-dormant-mineral-act ER -
General information about statutes, not legal advice and not a title opinion. Facts about a specific interest decide the outcome. Published by American Mineral Registry, which also runs a commercial service for owners; see how the two relate.