Do it yourself.....

Research Tips

1st check to see if your property is in Abstract or held in Torrance.

Note:  Torrance properties must be taken out of Torrance first, contact Ron.

 If you have an Abstract Property follow these steps. 

1. On your Tax Statement Find your Section #, Township # and Range #

2. Locate your Patent on the BLM Website. Download a copy and Order 3 certified copies

blm website here

3. Research your Chain of Title back to the Patent 

 1st option Contact a Title Company   to create an Abstract of title. 

 2nd option Try to Do it yourself and Research back to the Land Patent, Starting with Online
records or going down to your counties land recording office and looking on their computers,
or ask them to help you and show you how to work there system for your research needs. 1st
Start from your Name on your  Deed ,  then from whom you bought it from , then from whom
they bought it from and so on all the way back to the Land patent. 

 Writing down all dates, document numbers, book and page numbers.

 3rd option Hire a Researcher 

If doing yourself Contact your County Recorder to get access to your Counties Land recording website

 All Minnesota Counties Here

You may need to start an account, pay a subscription fee or pay to view the documents

There may be more than one site, older records are often on a separate archive site

Minnesota Counties

4. Start with your Name on your deed, search back as far as you can by sellers name on each deed

If your in a Plat, search the records for the plat, that plat will have a List of recorded documents under
the plat, for plat changes, it is helpful to look at the plat map, as that will tell you what the plat was
before the new plat, and so on.  Once you reach a dead end, you may have to go to the archive records
next or there was a foreclosure, tax sale, death, plat change or some other event in which you might
need to start your research from the land patent and go forward using the meets and bounds
descriptions to link your chain up to where you left off.  See Below explanations of meets and bounds.
This can get very confusing. (Note... Meets and bounds are read backwards)  

5. Prepare your Chain of Title Summary with the following info

 Seller Name to Buyer Name and the date of the sale (not the date recorded). 
  Make note of Each Document # for each deed; the older entries will be a Book and Page
Number. You will need these numbers to request Certified Copies of each Deed from the county
recorder.  Typical cost is $10.00 for a certified copy.

 Note:  you want ownership transfer documents, they wont all necessarily be Deeds, there may
be ownership thru a divorce decree, a will, or trust, etc. Include those transfer documents if that
is how the transfer took place.

6. Create the Rest of the Land Patent Documents yourself or Contact Ron Gibson to do it for you- He Will
Need The Following documents

 Summary Chain of Title

 Copy of your Deed showing ownership

 Copy of the Land Patent 

7. Buy Both of Ron's books and watch his 5 part video series where he goes over the book

 I strongly suggest watching this seminar... Ron goes into more explanation and detail on Land
Patents, the process, posting it and more. 

 The Truth Will Set You Free

(5 videos)
01 - 1:19
02 - 1:33
03 - 1:13
04 - 1:14
05 - 1:14