Need help please!
In 2009, my father died leaving a will for all his belongings to be divided equally between all 8 children. Before the gas wells were divided one of his heirs died and her daughter never probated her will. We have been trying for almost a year now to get the wells changed over into our names, but are still fighting it. Part of the problem is that the excutor on the estate, my brother who has health issues, does not get a lot done and I wind up having to get it all done. Several of the heirs do not want the hassle of having a share in the mineral rights as they don't want to have to worry about paying property taxes, and income taxes on such small amounts.
Question: What will be the process? Will we be able to divide the wells between only the siblings who are interested? Will my deceased sister's children have any rights to her share?
We have contacted the gas companies and they are finally asking for all the heirs addresses, but it has been almost a year.
There is now also unclaimed money for each of the wells in the state comptrollers office. I have already sent them all of the information that they asked for over 6 months ago and when I check on the status it just says they are still looking into the claim.
2nd Concern:
Right after my father died, he received a package that looked like a division order. He was supposed to sign it and return it, but he of course had already passed. I gave it to my brother to handle and he does not remember it, nor does he know what he did with it.
Question:
Is it possible there are more wells that we don't know about? Is there a way to find out if a well is getting minerals from my fathers 22 acres without concent? I know that there are several wells that are sitting just outside his property line, but those are not the wells that he gets paid on.
I am new to all of this, but want to make sure it all gets taken care of.
Thanks in advance for any help you can give,
Ginger
Give me your fathers name and maybe the name of the wells he gets paid for and I will look to see if there are other wells.
My father's name is Donald Chapin, the survey is D. Millican Survey, A-541. This is near where he lived. That is my concern, there is a top producing well on the property right behind his that is much closer than the Ellis, Sid well.
He has several other wells in town that are from his mineral rights on his business property. We know there are about 10 or those, those are the ones we have been paying property taxes on for several years, but haven't received any money. I finally found that Cheasapeak had sent lots of money to unclaimed money. We are working on geting that money and the money cheasapeak has in holding released. As far as I know, no division orders have ever been signed for those wells, as my brother, the executor, signed the gas leases on those two properties after his death. So you might find others under, Chapin Gold and Porcelian
Thanks for your help!
Which county are we talking about here? Need to tie County to survey to do a search on activity using my sources.
Attached is a PDF of your A541 survey (centered in plat). Lots of wells in the area - some that drill into this survey and a couple that start in this survey (red dot - 2 Devon wells from same pad).
Approximately where in A541 is your acreage? Will help narrow down the wells / units that may impact you.
Ginger Clark said:
1135-MillicanA541Survey.pdf (1.14 MB)
The Sid Ellis is the only well in that 631 acre unit produced by Devon energy a good company. Not sure what top producing well you are talking about, your well is as good as all the others in the area. There is still lots of room for more wells in the unit but don't know if that will ever happen. Y'all should for sure join in the lawsuit against Chesapeake on the other wells because they have been cheating everyone and it is no cost to you. Go to royaltyripoff.com. Good luck and hope this helps.
Attached is a lot of info - all centered on the Millican A541 survey.
Map shows 14 wells that are in this area. List corresponds to the map (all Devon wells).
Production graphs are for the 14 wells in this area.
Now to figure would which of these wells includes your family's 22 acres in their units. This can be found on the Tx RRC site by looking up plats/ unit info for each well
1132-A541AreaWells.pdf (1.15 MB)
1133-WellA541ProdWellList.pdf (6.53 KB)
1134-A541AreaProdGraphs14wells.pdf (378 KB)
These 14 wells are making about 2.6 Million cubic feet of gas per day as of last production filing. All Devon as mentioned earlier. No Chesapeake wells in this shaded search outline
Yes, you are correct. That is my dad. I am including a clip of his property and have marked the well and the other well, I can't tell you the name of it however, sorry. Sorry about sloppiness, i had to write with mouse.
Thanks,
Ginger
Rock Man said:
|
Assume this is your dad - originally leased to Devon in 2005. ======================================================= Filing Information |
State:
|
Texas |
Record Number:
|
05-41962 |
Volume/Page:
|
3675/257 |
County:
|
Johnson |
Record Date:
|
11/22/2005 |
Deed Reference Volume/Page
|
706/472 |
Type:
|
Lease |
Lease Form:
|
Other |
Date:
|
3/18/2005 |
Effective Date:
|
|
Multiple Leases:
|
No |
Lessor/Grantor:
|
DONALD G. CHAPIN 4632 E. FM 4 CLEBURNE, TX 76031 |
Lessee/Grantee:
|
DEVON ENERGY PRODUCTION COMPANY, L.P. P.O. BOX 450 DECATUR, TX 76234 |
Acres:
|
21.97 |
Depths Covered:
|
|
| Survey |
Abstract |
County Name |
Description |
| MILLICAN, D |
541 |
Johnson |
|
Term:
|
36 months |
Royalty: 0.1875 |
Delay Rental:
|
No |
Bonus:
|
None |
Expiration:
|
3/18/2008 |
|
Ginger Clark said:
1131-sidEllisWell.JPG (40.5 KB)
Attached is permit and unit plat info for the Sid Ellis well.
1130-SidEllis31107Permitandunitplat.pdf (197 KB)
The unit was expanded to 631 acres after permitting. The sid Ellis runs down toward your dad's with the bottom hole stopping just north east of your dads, the other well runs north going away from you dad's.
Based on the Sid Ellis unit plat and your JPG and the other info, I don't see another well impinging on your family's acreage / minerals.
Plotting out the surrounding units to make sure there is no over lap would be most accurate way of addressing this issue to make sure.
DrillingInfo.com shows no Chesapeake operated wells anywhere near this A541 Survey - solid Devon area.
Ok, so as far as you can tell there are no other wells that my dad should be receiving proceeds from? This is all greek to me! I greatly appreciate your help!
He has 22 acres and he receives 3/16 of a share. so one well covers all 22 acres?
Are you thinking the other well is the 32972 API number (two well pad - Devon Barton 1H and 2H / 32972 and 32960)?
Attached are the two plats for the Barton wells - surface location in A541 but first penetration points in the Barnett Shale on both wells is to the NW and off of A541.
Mickie Byrd said:
The unit was expanded to 631 acres after permitting. The sid Ellis runs down toward your dad's with the bottom hole stopping just north east of your dads, the other well runs north going away from you dad's.
1128-DevonBarton32972.pdf (358 KB)
1129-DevonBarton32960.pdf (363 KB)
Attached is all the info on sid Ellis. Page 18 shows the plat displaying the owners tracts. No other wells intrude the unit.
1127-sidellis.pdf (2.15 MB)
Thanks again, so now what? How do we get it all divided up? We sent death certificate and will a month or two after Dad died. They changed the checks to be directly deposited into the estate checking account, but we have never gotten any papers to divide the wells up. How will they be divided up?
The only Cheasapeak well we have are in town. Like I said before, we haven't ever seen any money from those, but we do kow there is money wiating to be claimed. After 8 months since we sent paperwork, we just got a phone message yesterday asking for addresses of all heirs. I tried calling back and leaving a message, but still haven't called back. Hoping they will call tomorrow.
Thanks again for all your help!
Your family's 22 acres is part of the larger production unit. Assuming it is 631 acres, your interest is 0.6537242%.
22 acres divided by 631 times the 3/16th royalty interest.
Pretty sure that math is correct
The only other well(s) that may be in play here as to your minerals are the two Barton wells - but I really don't think that they are tapping the Sid Ellis unit based on the penetration points on their unit plats.
Ginger Clark said:
Ok, so as far as you can tell there are no other wells that my dad should be receiving proceeds from? This is all greek to me! I greatly appreciate your help!
He has 22 acres and he receives 3/16 of a share. so one well covers all 22 acres?
Thanks Mickie, I will look into that right away! Will it do us any good if we don't even know how much we are supposed to be getting? We have never seen division orders or anything. Brother signed lease, but it doesn't say how much we were supposed to get, what share.
Thanks,
Ginger
Mickie Byrd said:
The Sid Ellis is the only well in that 631 acre unit produced by Devon energy a good company. Not sure what top producing well you are talking about, your well is as good as all the others in the area. There is still lots of room for more wells in the unit but don't know if that will ever happen. Y'all should for sure join in the lawsuit against Chesapeake on the other wells because they have been cheating everyone and it is no cost to you. Go to royaltyripoff.com. Good luck and hope this helps.
