Big Four Petroleum Co. v. Quirk

SUMMERS, Justice.

This case boils down to a single question: Does the purchaser of an executor’s oil and gas lease, which lease is recorded in the county records but unconfirmed by the probate court, have an equitable (and therefore enforceable) right to produce oil and gas as against a mineral owner who purchases its mineral interest from the executor after recordation of the unconfirmed lease? We answer in the affirmative, and direct the trial court to quiet title to the lease in the lessee, Big Four Petroleum Company.

L.A. Coker died testate and her will specifically granted her executor the…