I came across an original document stating that my late grandma and her heirs thereafter have partial ownership in oil tracts in Zapata County, Texas. I went to the courthouse to view these documents and they have been torn out of the book. The other partial owners own parts of her/our home. But we had no idea of the oil until I found this document. So my question is if they own part of our home, why wouldn’t we own part of the oil tracts? To me it seems that someone was trying to hide our ownership part by removing the documents from the courthouse records. Any input would be great. This paper was dated 1962.
You might want to look in the stacks again to see if the minerals may have been sold and/or see if someone is paying taxes on the minerals. Finding nothing, if the document is duly notarized I would record the document and then contact the operator. If the operator won’t deal with you, you need an oil and gas lawyer. If you could get a lawyer to work on contingency, you might be better off letting him handle the headaches because I have lost faith that any operator will deal forthrightly with a mineral owner. You have to put them in a hammerlock and it practically takes a lawyer to know how to grab them. Good luck.
Thank you for your information!
Good advice RW. Also look to see if there is any recording information on the document; such as Vol XX Page XX. It sounds like there is, since you knew which book to look in. Also, the index should still have the reference of the documents. If so, you need to point this out to the County Clerk and have them restore the volume.
Norma -
Both RW & Mark have given you good advice.
When you reach the point of needing to contact someone, you will have to contact the company(ies) purchasing the oil and/or gas from the well(s) on the property. This may not be the Operator.
If you have your legal descriptions or the name(s) of the well(s), I can tell you what company(ies) you need to contact.
Hope this helps -
Charles Emery Tooke III Certified Professional Landman Fort Worth, Texas
Would these companies be able to tell us if we actually have any rights to the minerals? The paperwork I have is extremely confusing but does have some oil tracts listed on it over a couple counties. Along with names of everyone who the minerals were split upon. We’ve tried contacting these people on the paperwork, but they won’t return phone calls. It’s strange that our family home has their names owning parts of our home.
Charles Emery Tooke III said:
Norma -
Both RW & Mark have given you good advice.
When you reach the point of needing to contact someone, you will have to contact the company(ies) purchasing the oil and/or gas from the well(s) on the property. This may not be the Operator.
If you have your legal descriptions or the name(s) of the well(s), I can tell you what company(ies) you need to contact.
Hope this helps -
Charles
Charles Emery Tooke III Certified Professional Landman Fort Worth, Texas
They should be able to.
But I’m not sure about what kind of document you have. Can you scan it in and send me a copy of it?
You will have to accept my invitation to become “A Friend” on The Forum for me to give you my direct email address, but that only takes a second.
Look for my invitation -
Charles
Ok give me a few days to get it scanned to you! Thanks.
OK. Glad to help.
Norma, do not be surprised that anyone who “could” have given you information does not, if you finally do contact them. Most contacts out of the blue are usually problems that sometimes go away if you don’t encourage them by talking to them. I don’t see any way that anyone you contact is going to see your issue is not going to see it as a problem, or at least something they can hopefully put off until it’s someone else’s day to man the phone. Do your best, but don’t be discouraged, it’s not personal.
These “people” are heirs to the ones in the original document, they are all very well off. I have even spoken to one of their wives who told me she had nothing to do with the oil or wells it was her husband’s business. Yet he refuses to acknowledge we exist other than his wife stating that he would gladly sign over his part on our home, but his sisters might not be so willing. When it comes to the minerals they won’t speak to us. We had no clue they owned part of our home until we tried to get a home improvement loan and was denied due to them owning part. Soon after I found this document in my grandma’s paperwork. My grandma never mentioned the minerals or the people who jointly owned her home. Makes me wonder if she even knew about it. Just so confusing.
Also check the Grantor/Grantee index to see if the deed got recorded in the index, as proof that it used to be in the book. Very fishy, and you should have an attorney look at it.
They should be able to “restore” the missing pages, as one person alluded to. Otherwise, anybody could go into a Clerk’s office, rip pages out, and nullify a valid transaction. Hopefully, there is no County Clerk/Recorder out there who has no BACK-UP copy (either filmed, fiched, or digital)!
Norma -
It just occurred to me that you said that you had found an original document, apparently the original of the document that is missing from the Record Book.
Fellows, what do you think of our advising her to simply go down to the Clerk’s Office and file it again?
Wish we had someone in Zapata that could check the records for Norma. Does anybody know if their records from the 1960’s forward are online?
Check the Grantor/Grantee index at the Clerk’s office to see if it was your instrument that was filed and is now missing.
The original would not be in the book. If it is in 1962, it would likely have been an abstract of the document. Later it became more common to put photocopies in the deed records.