40 years ago my mother inherited mineral rights in Love County, Oklahoma. For years she got small checks.
I have found several letters, lease agreements, KCS bankruptcy, several offers to lease. The first document is dated 1982 with the lease. The last letter she received is dated July 2008 with an offer to buy the mineral rights.
Several letters state she owns 9.6 net mineral acre interest, but earlier leases show she had 140 acres… more or less as they put it.
I live in Ohio. She passed in 2014 and had not received any royalties for some time before her death.
How do I find out if there was drilling? If she still owns the rights, as they were inherited.
I have no idea where to begin unless I fly to Oklahoma and go to courthouse and research records and then I still don’t know how to go about this.
She probably owned 9.6 acres out of a gross of 140. The lease wording often has the gross acreage, but the offer letters usually have the net.
If you state the section, township and range, we can help you with the activity.
You actually do not have to fly to OK as a starting point. You can look up her name at www.okcountyrecords.com. It is free to look, costs just a bit to print.
The best I can tell, all of the wells in Section 17-7S-3E have been plugged. The last record I find in the county clerk’s records for your mother is an Oil & Gas Lease she executed in June 2004.
At a bare minimum you may want to consider an affidavit of heirship. It won’t vest marketable title immediately, but it will provide notice of your claimed right to inherit. You can always file a probate at a later date if needed.
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