Digital records are great for searching, sorting, and analyzing your mineral rights data. But there are times when you need the actual paper: a meeting with an attorney, a conversation with a family member, a situation where you need to hand someone a document and know it's the original.

A mineral rights binder is a physical collection of your most important documents, organized so anyone can pick it up and understand what you own.

What to Include

Section 1: Summary

Start with a one-page overview of your mineral interests:

This summary is the first thing someone would read if they needed to understand your situation quickly. Update it annually.

Section 2: Deeds and Title Documents

For each property, include:

These are your proof of ownership. Keep the originals or certified copies.

Section 3: Leases

For each active lease:

When a lease expires, move it to an "expired leases" section rather than throwing it away. Historical lease information can be useful for future negotiations and title verification.

Section 4: Division Orders

Keep every division order you've signed, organized by property or well. Note the decimal interest and the date on each. When a new division order replaces an old one, keep both so you can track changes.

Section 5: Royalty Payment Records

Keep the most recent 12 months of check stubs in the binder for easy reference. Older stubs can be stored separately but should be kept for at least seven years.

If you log payments digitally, you don't need every stub in the binder. But having the recent ones at hand is useful for quick reference.

Section 6: Tax Records

For each property, keep:

Section 7: Correspondence

Keep important letters from operators: lease offers, pooling notices, division order transmittals, address change confirmations, and any dispute correspondence.

Section 8: Contact Information

A sheet with current contact information for:

How to Organize It

Use tabbed dividers for each section. Within each section, organize by property (using the legal description or a nickname you'll recognize). Use a three-ring binder so you can add and remove pages easily.

Label the spine so anyone looking at your bookshelf knows what it is.

Keep It Updated

A binder that's five years out of date isn't useful. Set a reminder to review and update it at least once a year, ideally when you're preparing your taxes and already have the documents in front of you.

Who Should Know Where It Is

Make sure at least one other person in your family knows the binder exists and where it's kept. If something happens to you, this binder is the starting point for whoever picks up the management of your mineral interests. That's the whole point.

MinRight serves as the digital companion to your physical binder. The binder holds the originals. MinRight holds the searchable, organized, connected record of how everything fits together. Between the two, you have a complete system.

If you just need to build the binder and generate a report for the family, the monthly subscription covers that. Enter everything, print your reports, and cancel when you're done. For ongoing tracking, the lifetime license is the way to go. Either way, see our guide on creating a mineral rights inventory for what to include.