Mueller v Davis, Texarkana Court of Appeals, 2016 Tex. App. LEXIS 1120, February 4, 2016

A deed with a property description that identifies the number of acres out of a specific survey, the abstract number and the recorded production unit of the land being conveyed is insufficient as a matter of law since it does not refer to the recorded unit or otherwise make it possible to determine the size, shape, and boundaries of the specific acreage being conveyed.

Davis acquired two deeds from a Virginia Cope and a James Mills. Mueller subsequently acquired various mineral interests from Cope and Mills and claimed that the deeds to Davis violated the statute of frauds. The deeds identified the number of acres, the survey, the abstract number and the production unit from which the land was included. The court of appeals held this to be an insufficient description under the statute of frauds, holding “the descriptions fail to reference another writing or otherwise make it possible to determine the size, shape, and boundaries of the specific mineral acreage sought to be conveyed, and are, therefore, insufficient.” Since the units that were referenced in the deeds were recorded in the county records, and, presumably, would have been sufficient to satisfy the statute of frauds, the case seems to stand for the proposition that the deed to Davis had to reference these recorded units.