Can you own mineral rights if you still have a mortgage?
Anna:
Your question is somewhat vague but if you mean that if you have a mortgage (home, land, car), can you own mineral rights. The answer to this question is “yes”, you can own mineral rights as this is entirely separate from your personal debts. On the average, mineral rights are inherited but in some cases, an individual is able to acquire minerals via a straight purchase or as part of a surface deal. Lastly, if your question deals with the purchase of property with minerals and property was mortgaged, do you own the minerals. If the minerals were transferred over to you, then you would be the owner of the mineral rights. You would need to make sure that the minerals were transferred over to your name at the County Clerk’s office. I would guess that very few land deals these days include the mineral rights as most sellers maintain the minerals.
Thank you for your thoughtful reply - it was helpful.
My family has a similar situation. Our father, about 30 years ago, mortgaged his mineral rights to a private party. We have been getting conflicting advice on how to settle his estate. He passed away 25 years ago. Some people say we should file probate since the mortgage is no longer valid. Others are saying if we open probate, someone might file a claim. We do not know if our father passed away with any debts still owing. Our mother did not file probate on our father as she got everything in the will and she has since passed away too. We do not know what the mortgage was for or the amount. The land records reference some paperwork at a bank, but that bank is not in business and the bank that runs the location now does not have the paperwork and we did not find anything in our father’s papers.
Our questions are:
Would a landman contact the family that has the mortgage on the mineral rights? The beneficiary of the mortgage has passed away too. We are worried that her family might try to make a claim if the landman tracks them down.
Is the mortgage even valid?
Should we probate my father’s estate now or wait for some future landman to contact us about leasing the mineral rights and then get the mineral rights transferred to the kids?
Joe:
My advice in your matters would be to consult with an oil and gas or estate attorney who has dealt with oil and gas cases. I would do as much as possible in regards to record research and have the paperwork in order prior to consulting the attorney. By doing this, you may save time and money as the attorney may be able to inform you if the evidence is worth pursuing.
Joe Jackson said:
My family has a similar situation. Our father, about 30 years ago, mortgaged his mineral rights to a private party. We have been getting conflicting advice on how to settle his estate. He passed away 25 years ago. Some people say we should file probate since the mortgage is no longer valid. Others are saying if we open probate, someone might file a claim. We do not know if our father passed away with any debts still owing. Our mother did not file probate on our father as she got everything in the will and she has since passed away too. We do not know what the mortgage was for or the amount. The land records reference some paperwork at a bank, but that bank is not in business and the bank that runs the location now does not have the paperwork and we did not find anything in our father’s papers.
Our questions are:
Would a landman contact the family that has the mortgage on the mineral rights? The beneficiary of the mortgage has passed away too. We are worried that her family might try to make a claim if the landman tracks them down.
Is the mortgage even valid?
Should we probate my father’s estate now or wait for some future landman to contact us about leasing the mineral rights and then get the mineral rights transferred to the kids?
HI Joe
We have our mother’s estate with an attorney. He has been giving conflicting advice. At first he said do not open our father’s estate, but now he said we should think about it.