# Clarifying standing leases, royalty payments and Owner rights
**URL:** https://www.mineralrightsforum.com/t/clarifying-standing-leases-royalty-payments-and-owner-rights/89439
**Category:** Oil and Gas Leasing Help
**Created:** [September 15, 2026, 10:50pm UTC](https://www.mineralrightsforum.com/t/clarifying-standing-leases-royalty-payments-and-owner-rights/89439 "2026-09-15T22:50:14Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@tsidney70](https://www.mineralrightsforum.com/u/tsidney70)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2026, 10:50pm UTC](https://www.mineralrightsforum.com/t/clarifying-standing-leases-royalty-payments-and-owner-rights/89439/1 "2026-09-15T22:50:14Z")
My family has about 150+ acres in Louisiana. Excavation has been ongoing for the last 20+ years with several different operators; the latest is Adamas Energy. Many of the original family members involved in the leases are decease. We suspect royalties are not being paid accurately; the leases may even have expired. Also, some lease names were not vetted and shouldn’t be there. It’s a mess. County municipalities say many of the filed documents were not legal and have no warrant. Where should we look for legal representation to start fixing this?
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### Author:  [@lucas](https://www.mineralrightsforum.com/u/lucas)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2026, 12:46pm UTC](https://www.mineralrightsforum.com/t/clarifying-standing-leases-royalty-payments-and-owner-rights/89439/2 "2026-09-18T12:46:43Z")
Pull the production record before you hire anyone. SONRIS, Louisiana’s well database at [sonris.com](http://sonris.com), shows every well with its operator history and monthly production back decades. Long idle stretches are where a lease may have expired. Louisiana also gives lessors a specific tool: written notice of nonpayment under Mineral Code articles 137 to 140. The lessee gets 30 days to pay or explain, and if it does neither a court can award double the royalties plus attorney fees. That letter needs a Louisiana oil and gas attorney, and the parish clerk of court holds the lease and succession filings they will ask for.
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### Author:  [@tsidney70](https://www.mineralrightsforum.com/u/tsidney70)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2026, 12:46pm UTC](https://www.mineralrightsforum.com/t/clarifying-standing-leases-royalty-payments-and-owner-rights/89439/3 "2026-09-18T12:46:54Z")
Adding to this discussion how can I tell if the lease is still valid? The second part of that is that I suspect other on this lease have a different lease, and that some partitions receiving royalties are not family members
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### Author:  [@tsidney70](https://www.mineralrightsforum.com/u/tsidney70)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2026, 4:55pm UTC](https://www.mineralrightsforum.com/t/clarifying-standing-leases-royalty-payments-and-owner-rights/89439/4 "2026-09-23T16:55:45Z")
Great info. Thanks so much