## Facts

- Martha Smith owned a life estate in a 98-acre tract in Coal County, Oklahoma, and J.B. Garrett owned the remainder interest; Smith was also Garrett’s legal guardian while he was a minor.
- On June 9, 1943, Smith, acting only in her capacity as Garrett’s guardian and through county-court guardianship proceedings (including public sale and court confirmation), executed and delivered an oil and gas lease to O.E. Welborn covering Garrett’s remainder interest for a ten-year primary term beginning June 9, 1943.
- The 1943 proceedings and lease purported to lease only the remainder interest and were taken by Smith as guardian, not by Smith individually as life tenant; Smith was not a party to Welborn’s later lawsuit.
- On November 17, 1952, Smith (as life tenant) and Garrett (as remainderman) executed an oil and gas lease on the same tract to George M. McDaniel.
- Tidewater Associated Oil Co. obtained a written assignment of the McDaniel lease on December 18, 1952, and on February 11, 1953, the lease/assignment was recorded.
- On March 2, 1953, Welborn demanded that Tidewater release the McDaniel/Tidewater lease as a cloud on Welborn’s claimed leasehold; Tidewater refused.
- Welborn sued Tidewater in federal district court for damages for slander of title based on Tidewater’s procurement and recording of its lease interest.
- While the case was pending, Welborn’s ten-year primary term expired on June 9, 1953, before termination of the life estate.

## Issues

1. Whether a lease obtained through guardianship proceedings that covers only a remainderman’s interest gives the lessee a present right to enter and develop oil and gas during the life tenant’s lifetime.
2. Whether Welborn had a valid, existing interest in the land or minerals that could support a slander of title claim against Tidewater for recording a later lease taken from both the life tenant and remainderman, especially after Welborn’s primary term expired.

## Decision

- The Tenth Circuit affirmed the district court’s dismissal for failure to state a claim.
- The court held that Welborn’s 1943 lease, limited to the remainder interest and not joined by the life tenant in her individual capacity, was ineffective to allow Welborn to enter the land and explore for or produce oil and gas during the existence of the life estate.
- Because the life estate continued past June 9, 1953, Welborn’s primary term expired before any right of entry and development could arise; Welborn therefore had no title or estate capable of being slandered by Tidewater’s later lease and recordation.

## Legal Principles

- A life tenant holds the present possessory estate; without the life tenant’s participation, a lease from the remainderman alone does not confer a present right to enter and conduct oil and gas operations during the life tenant’s lifetime.
- A judicial or guardianship sale conveys only the interest actually held and authorized to be conveyed; the purchaser takes the risk that the acquired interest may be limited and may not yield immediate operating rights.
- Slander of title requires the plaintiff to have a valid, existing, legally protectable property interest that is disparaged; an interest that never becomes enforceable during the relevant time period will not support the claim.
- When an oil and gas lease on only a remainder interest cannot be used during the life estate and its primary term ends before the life estate terminates, the lessee’s claimed rights lapse by the lease’s own terms and cannot serve as the basis for slander of title.

## Conclusion

The Tenth Circuit affirmed dismissal because Welborn’s 1943 lease covered only the remainderman’s interest and gave no present right to drill or produce during the life estate, and the lease’s primary term expired while the life estate still existed, leaving Welborn without a subsisting title or estate that Tidewater’s later recorded lease could have slandered.


Welborn v. Tidewater Associated Oil Co., 217 F.2d 509 (1954)