Surface, mineral and right-of-way title
Title research from current owner back to the original land grant.
JBK Land Services researches land records for title companies, energy developers and land services firms. We search on site at the courthouse in twelve states and remotely wherever records are online, and we deliver a complete chain of title with every instrument attached.
Services
What we search
Every order is worked by an experienced abstractor, from the index books to the final report. You get one point of contact and answers to examiner questions after delivery.
Surface title and ownership reports
Current owner, two-owner, 60-year, 100-year and full searches for title commitments and project due diligence.
Runsheet, ownership report, all copiesMineral and subsurface ownership
Severances, reservations and conveyances of oil, gas, coal and other minerals, run forward from the severing instrument.
Mineral ownership reportExtended searches
250-year chains and searches back to the original patent or land grant, including partitions, wills and chancery suits.
Complete chain to the sovereignRight-of-way and easements
Easement, right-of-way and encroachment research for transmission lines, pipelines, roads and utility corridors.
Easement schedule with platsEnergy and infrastructure due diligence
Title for solar, wind, battery storage and data center sites, from single parcels to multi-county projects.
Parcel-by-parcel reportingCurative and heirship research
Probate searches, heirship tracing and gap research where the chain breaks or a decedent left no record.
Findings with sources citedThe deliverable
A report your examiner doesn't have to redo
Every link documented
Each conveyance listed with dates, book and page or instrument number, parties, legal description and the prior reference it relies on.
Problems flagged, not buried
Missing probates, gaps in the chain and scrivener's errors in prior references are called out in examiner notes, with the source document cited.
Exceptions separated
Easements, rights-of-way, deeds of trust and liens listed in their own section so the commitment can be built straight from the report.
All copies included
Every instrument in the chain, plats and tax records delivered with the report, named by book and page.
Experience
Fifteen years in the courthouse
JBK Land Services is run by Joshua R. Owens, who started in West Virginia running mineral title for shale development and has worked land records in three regions since.
- 2011 onward
Appalachian Basin
Mineral title in Harrison, Doddridge and Tyler Counties, West Virginia, then north through the Marcellus and Utica shale plays in West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Pipeline right-of-way title along the way.
- Five years
Mid-Continent
Mineral title in Oklahoma and Texas.
- 2020 to today
Energy infrastructure
Surface, mineral and easement title for electric transmission, solar, wind, battery storage and data center projects from the Midwest to the Mid-Atlantic.
Coverage
Where we work
On-site courthouse research across twelve states within driving distance of our Virginia base. Remote research anywhere the records are online.
Counties and independent cities searched across 18 states and Washington, D.C.
On-site coverage
Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Georgia and Alabama.
How an order works
From order to report
Send the order
Parcel IDs or addresses, the county, the search period and your report form if you have one.
We search the records
On site at the courthouse or through the county's online system, with copies pulled for every instrument.
We build the chain
Every conveyance examined, the chain tied together and any gaps or defects flagged.
You get the report
Runsheet, ownership report and all copies, with follow-up on examiner questions.
Request a search
Send the parcel, county and search period and we'll confirm turnaround and price before any work begins.
- Contact
- Joshua R. Owens, Owner
- Phone
- 540-838-1578
- jowens@jbklandservices.com
- Based in
- Richlands, Virginia