History

• The English colonization of America was based on grants of territory from the Crown and the governors of the original 13 colonies granted small tracts of land based on surveys. The surveys were considered "patented" and that term stuck. When land was transferred from public to private hands, the new owner would receive a land patent document. From 1812 when the General Land office took over the job, it issued more than 2 million land patents transferring ownership of public lands to private buyers, homesteaders and others who received land by Congressional donations.
  
  

Benefits

• Those who advocate that land owners get land patents have pointed out that it is the best way to secure all rights to the property. Land patents have prevailed in every court case where they have been challenged by other forms of titles, including claims by the state.
  
  

Modern Land Patents

• The method of obtaining a land patent on land you already own is not that different from the process homesteaders went through to receive the original land patents from the government in previous centuries.
  
  The land owner needs to go to the county clerk or recorder's office in the county where the land is and get a certified Warranty Deed and chain of title for the land in order to prove ownership. Then you need to get a certified copy of the plat map that includes the property so as to have the correct legal land description. Take those documents to the nearest regional office of the Bureau of Land Management and request a certified copy of the Land Patent that applies to the property described in the Land Description. With these documents in hand, prepare a Declaration of Acceptance of the Land Patent and file it with the local county clerk or recorder's office.
  
  

Considerations

• In "Land Patents: a Real Myth" William E. Hosler, Esq. clarifies that while it may be useful to secure all the rights to a parcel by getting a land patent, that does not mean that a land owner is immune to local state and federal laws governing property: "You cannot dodge taxes with a land patent. You cannot avoid land use regulation with a land patent."
  
  

Geneology Research

• When researching a family tree, many people find it useful to use land patent records, which place their ancestors on a piece of property at the date the land patent was issued.