My grandfather had property in Eads and sold it in 1930. He kept 1/2 mineral rights. We just got contacted by Westphal re leasing the minerals. First for us. We are dealing with learning about all of this. We didn’t put all our names on the title when elders died (due to cost as we were told) now we may have problems with lease. Anyone else dealing with multiple owners (we have 8) and with this company. We haven’t signed yet. None of us live in Colo.
Hi Cherryl,
This is a great website to learn about the ups and downs of mineral rights and the leases involved. There has been a lot of interest in Kiowa County, CO recently. You can go to the various forums and read the comments made by me and many others. Westphal and Diamond are two other company names that can be added to McDonald and others who are investigating and trying to lease the mineral rights in Kiowa County. Your family story is very familiar. My family started with land way back in the 20s, sold and kept mineral rights which have been passed down through the several generations. There are also multiple owners in our area. The great thing about our era - the www. Even if we are not near we can get info. You can access the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission website, the Colorado State Land Commission website, this site and others to get yourself up to speed on what is happening in Kiowa County, what you should do and how to do it. At this time, it seems that most of the real activity is in North Kiowa County, but these speculators are trying to get mineral rights all over. Since nothing has happened in generations, I am not getting in a hurry. Most offers are pretty low right now, but who knows what the future holds???? Mineral Rights in Kansas, Oklahoma,Texas and and the Dakotas and now Colorado just to name a few states seem to be very interesting to a lot of people. What does that mean? With the current political climate it is anybody's guess. The technology of getting oil out of the ground is really evolving also which adds to the guesswork. Hope this has been helpful.
Bob
Hi Cheryl,
Yes, there has been a lot of activity in the area. I have had several offers, Westphal being one of them. Most start with $25/ac, 1/8 roy, 5yr & 5yr extension. I have, after a little negotiation, gotten offers more than $100/ac for bonus, a little more than the 1/8 and an little less than the 5 & 5 yr term. It is also important to not simply use the lease form that they provide, since it is not written at all in favor of the mineral property owner.
I agree with Bob that there is no hurry to lease. Some of the 'bad' landmen will try to pressure you with 'this offer is only good this week' type of statements. Right now it is very competitive for getting leases and they know that, so if an offer were to 'go away' there will be others that will make offers.
As far as the multiple owners go from your grandfathers estate, I would suggest you consider forming a LLC or Corp (more work) and putting the property in its name. Then there will be just one entity that owns the property, and will be just one lease instaead of 8 seperate ones.
I have seen many mineral properties get divided up this way, ie passing on shares to heirs. This really really fractionalizes the property ownership and can be a mess to deal with, some get down to 1/128 interest or less. If there are multiple properties you all have I'd suggest putting all in LLC or corp or at the least, only pass on to your heirs all your interest in a particular piece of property to one heir instead of fractionalizing it further among multiple heirs.
my 2 cents.... Norm
I know a group that might have interest in taking leases in Kiowa County, and they would probably offer better terms than McDonald, Westphal, Diamond, etc. Please give me a call if you wish to discuss further. Not guaranteeing anything, but I have been in the oil and gas business for years and might be able to help get a better deal. Thanks......Matt W. (405) 420-3071
i am also dealing with westphal. we have about 30 plus owners.we are decendants of the original owner,and i dont believe we were ever on the the original title.i also live out of state. and so do a lot of my grandfathers heirs.i would think that you would just have to prove your relationship to your grandfather.i.e. birth certificates and marriage licenses.