Sec. 51.250. CONFLICTING TITLE. (a) If a patent to land is issued by mistake on any valid claim for land and is afterwards found to be in conflict with an older title, the owner of the patent or any part of the land embraced by the patent which is in conflict may return the patent to the commissioner for cancellation. If the owner of the land that is the subject of the conflict cannot obtain the patent, he shall return to the commissioner legal evidence of his title to the patent or part of the patent.
(b) The person returning the patent or filing the evidence also shall make and file with the commissioner an affidavit stating that he is still the owner of the land and has not sold or transferred it.
(c) If the land office records or a duly certified copy of a judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction that has adjudicated the title reflects that a conflict exists, the commissioner may cancel the patent or the part of a patent that appears to belong to the party making the application.
(d) In cases where a survey in a block or system of surveys conflicts on one side or more, and omits an unpatented strip on another side or sides due to the patent being issued on an erroneous subsequent survey not conforming to the original and recognized pattern for the block or system, the commissioner, at the request of all parties owning under said patent, may cancel said patent and issue a corrected patent that shall conform to said block or system of surveys. In the event that excess acreage exists, a deed of acquittance shall be procured, as provided by law, and will be issued simultaneously with the corrected patent. This Subsection (d) shall not adversely affect the rights of any party in or entitled to possession of land affected by this subsection, but merely clarifies that the ownership in any land in a block or system of surveys exists as if the patent had been correctly issued on the date the erroneous patent was issued. The rights of a claimant under applicable law shall be construed as if the corrected patent had been originally issued.
Acts 1977, 65th Leg., p. 2437, ch. 871, art. I, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1977. Amended by Acts 1981, 67th Leg., p. 2239, ch. 535, Sec. 1, eff. Aug. 31, 1981.
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