Hi everyone. So my husband is stressed about the situation he is in, which is as follows (be prepared, it’s a long story):
So over 30 years ago, my husband (then about 18 years old) was approached by a gentleman in a suit in California. The gentleman had asked my husband if he had a will, to which he responded no. The gentleman then asked, “Well son, you have inherited a large amount of money and something called mineral rights in West Virginia, but you need a will to receive any of the money.” The conversation goes on, and at the end, the gentleman in the suit laughed when my husband asked, “Are you talking like $1,000 or a couple of thousand?” His response was, “Ha young man, we are talking a life-changing amount with more 0’s than you can wrap your head around.” At the time, my then 18-year-old husband wasn’t in the right state of mind, under the influence, and his mother had just passed away. He never looked into the whole mineral rights thing. With that being said, Antero Resources here in Colorado mailed him a letter at the beginning of 2019 and said, and I quote, “… We believe your family has an oil and gas interest in Tyler County, West Virginia. We are trying to locate all the heirs of Margaret Claudette Reed (his deceased mother) to start the payment process for this interest.”
A couple of months pass, and this is what we know (either we found out, Antero Resources told us, or our lawyer found out):
Affidavit of heirship mentioning the amount 362.74 acres more or less
There is a large number of wells (forgot the exact amount, but they had mentioned all were producing for over 100 years)
He received a check for payment on the production of 3 wells for 3 years
Apparently EQT had been the oil company originally pumping or whatnot on the acres, and then they sold their acreage to Antero Resources
These mineral rights have been in his family since at least 1901 from Tyler County, West Virginia. My main thing is: what do we do now? The lawyer we hired isn’t wanting anyone, and I mean anyone, involved with his findings and my husband’s case. Meaning my husband feels like he’s not telling us everything he knows.
WOW! I cannot offer legal advice, but a mess is accurate! EQT… I am not fond of. Did us dirty on selling rights right out from underneath us WITHOUT PERMISSION… probably something that was in the lease we did not investigate, and as we all know, if we do not hire lawyers to help us, we get SCREWED somehow, someway in those leases. Personally, you need a NEW lawyer! Antero recently offered me a lease, but to me what they offered was a joke, and I have not heard back after my counter-offer. I have been pretty happy with Jay-Bee… they are pretty decent to deal with and offer great customer/client service. You are probably correct that information is being withheld. I am not bashing lawyers. If you can sit tight… there are one or two on this website who read these posts and offer up advice on what to do. And lucky hubby… the most I ever got excited about was a hell of a sign-on bonus 5 years ago with Stat-Oil. That’s also where Antero is getting much of their and offering up new leases. Production is not good right now. My royalties are all consumed in the taxes I have to pay to Tyler County, and that is money that is taxed already! I am grateful though to at least have been included in inheritance and a small blessing. I will watch with you to see if you get some better advice. You know you can search records too?
Hello Sabrina, I came upon your post and have some experience locating mineral interest and wouldn’t mind helping you out. If you could share a few pieces of information I may be able to put the puzzle together.
What name is the current lease under? Your husband’s?
Do you know the map and parcel?
Do you know the well numbers?
Any info on the last lease signed?
With that info I should be able to get you the information you need through the courthouse.
Tyler County Sheriff’s Tax Office: There is no online portal so you will want to call directly to get any copies of tax tickets that are in your deceased mother-in-law’s name. They should be able to tell you what wells are associated with those tickets. That will be valuable when looking where the wells are located and their production records.
WVGES: WVGES Pipeline Plus System Overview (a newer online application that does give location, production, and other well characteristic information)
Your husband is not alone by being so overwhelmed. That is pretty common. That is why forums like this exist. If you get overwhelmed with these resources, don’t hesitate to ask for help!