Whenever any land, sold by an executor, administrator, guardian, sheriff or commissioner of court, is afterwards recovered in the proper action by any person originally liable, or in whose hands the land would be liable to pay the demand or judgment for which, or for whose benefit the land was sold, or any one claiming under such person, the plaintiff shall not be entitled to the possession of the land until he has refunded the purchase money with interest, deducting therefrom the value of the use, rents and profits, and injury done by waste and cultivation, to be assessed under the provisions of this article.
§ 1487.Sheriff's, Administrator's Or Guardian's Sale - Purchase Price to Be Refunded On Recovery of Land
Chapter 27: Occupying Claimants · Not amended since adoption on record · Last verified August 3, 2026
In one sentenceSection 1487 requires a plaintiff who recovers land previously sold by an executor, administrator, guardian, sheriff, or court commissioner to refund the purchase money with interest, less the assessed value of use, rents, profits, and waste damage, before obtaining possession.
Full Text of § 1487
Amendment History
R.L. 1910, § 4939.
Plain-English Summary
This section protects buyers at estate and execution sales when the sale later gets undone. If land sold by an executor, administrator, guardian, sheriff, or court commissioner is later recovered by the person originally liable for the underlying demand or judgment, by whoever the land would otherwise be liable to, by whoever the sale benefited, or by anyone claiming under one of them, the recovering plaintiff doesn't just walk back into possession.
Before taking possession, the plaintiff has to refund the purchase money, with interest, to whoever bought the land at that sale. The plaintiff does get a credit against that refund, though: the value of the use, rents, and profits, and any injury from waste and cultivation, gets deducted, assessed under this chapter's procedures.
Frequently Asked Questions
If I buy land at a sheriff's or administrator's sale and someone later recovers it, do they owe me anything?
Yes. Section 1487 requires the recovering plaintiff to refund your purchase money, with interest, before taking possession.
Does the plaintiff have to pay back the full purchase price?
Not necessarily -- the plaintiff deducts the value of the use, rents, profits, and any injury from waste and cultivation, as assessed under this chapter.
Does this apply to guardian's sales too, or just sheriff's sales?
It covers sales by an executor, administrator, guardian, sheriff, or commissioner of court alike.
Source & verification. Section text is reproduced verbatim from
Title 12 of the Oklahoma Statutes, enacted by the Oklahoma Legislature.
Last verified August 3, 2026.
· Official source
Also known as: refund purchase price recovered land oklahoma12 O.S. § 1487sheriff sale purchaser refund oklahomaadministrator sale land recovery refund