Title Examination Series: Mother Hubbard/Catch-All Provisions

A Mother Hubbard Provision in a lease is intended to include in the lands covered by the lease any adjacent or contiguous lands in which the Lessor owns an interest. The purpose is to generally prevent unintentionally leaving small unleased pieces or strips of land out of a lease.

“This lease also covers and includes all land, if any, contiguous or adjacent to or adjoining the land above described and (a) owned or claimed by lessor by limitation, prescription, possession, reversion or unrecorded instrument, or (b) as to which lessor has a preferential right of acquisition.”

"620 acres of land, more or less, including any accretions and any small strips or parcels of land now or hereafter owned by Lessor which are contiguous to the land described in Exhibit A, attached hereto."

If there is no Mother Hubbard provision in the lease, it is generally not necessary to obtain an amendment of the lease if the property description is sufficient to cover all of the lands intended to be covered. However, if there are issues with the lease description, or there is any question as to the actual acreage or lands covered, a Mother Hubbard provision should be included. It should also be noted that mineral interests in adjoining roadways would generally be covered under the Strip and Gore Doctrine, even in the absence of a Mother Hubbard Provision.