Heirs trying to prove ownerhip to acquire royalities held by state

General Mineral Rights Discussion
1

Back in 1990 I noticed my grandfathers name listed in the unclaimed funds for the state of Okla. I supplied the state with a death cert, probate, will and we retrieve sume porducing minerals in Cleveland county. Over the last year or so we noticed his name several times for missing funds by the Treasurors office. We put in a claim for these funds and sent in the same materials we sent before but they insist we much prove ownership and can not find the records form 1990 since the fund was handled by the tax comm. then.

The minerals are located in Okmulgee County,16-11N-12E and my grandfather came to Henryetta by wagon before statehood and settled there. Great grandfather was a district judge and served in the 2nd legislature and mom was borne and raised there.

What is the best way of proving if these minerals belong to us since them have been in this fund since the 90's and have not been claimed?

2

If this was in Texas I would say that a county clerk at law judge appointed someone, most likely a local attorney buddy to lease the mineral interest to an oil company. This attorney got paid for leasing your minerals and you knew nothing about it! Happens all the time in East Texas! Check the mineral tax roll with the county and the state office that is holding your money. You better hurry, it might revert to the state at any second. Ask the state office to provide you with a list of what they need to release the funds. They are not going to be in a hurry to let you have them. Assert yourself fast!

3

Did you record in the Okmulgee County clerk's office the information you sent in to the Tax Commission back when they were handling unclaimed property funds?

Where did your grandfather die?

Where was his Estate probated? If probated in Oklahoma then all that is need is a certified copy of the probate decree recorded in Okmulgee County Clerk's office and that should take care of it.

If it was probated in another State then an ancillary probate will be necessary in Oklahoma, before the Treasurer's office will release the funds. The gas company on the other hand may only require an affidavit of heirship and that will prevent any further money being deposited in the Oklahoma Unclaimed proeprty fund.

Hope this helps.

4

Hi Richard,

Not knowing the laws in OK, I do know we had to supply a death cert, and letters of testamentary. Did your g'father's estate go through probate? Wouldn't the best way to find out what is required is to ask the people you're dealing with? They, of all people should be able to tell you exactly what you have to do and what's needed to prove ownership. It might be a problem if you sent the original documents instead of copies in 1990. Also, check with the tax commission for your original documents before doing another thing.

I wish you the best of luck,

Yours,

Wes Luke

5

Grandfather died in 1964, it was probated in Okla. county. We did not ind out about the possibilty of these minerals in Okmulgee county till seeing his name on the unclaimed property list. The major problem i see is he went by J.H. Lincoln and there are several on the list with no address and several with a post office number in Dewer Okla. which they say may be a woman, but all these have been in the fund for many years. The state will not tell us exactly what they need to prove the ownership other then mineral deed which would not exist in our names. Would a landman help in investigating if these minerals belonged to my grandfather or some one else. Thanks to all that have answered so far, just like to prove if these belong to us or not.
Matthew said:

Did you record in the Okmulgee County clerk's office the information you sent in to the Tax Commission back when they were handling unclaimed property funds?

Where did your grandfather die?

Where was his Estate probated? If probated in Oklahoma then all that is need is a certified copy of the probate decree recorded in Okmulgee County Clerk's office and that should take care of it.

If it was probated in another State then an ancillary probate will be necessary in Oklahoma, before the Treasurer's office will release the funds. The gas company on the other hand may only require an affidavit of heirship and that will prevent any further money being deposited in the Oklahoma Unclaimed proeprty fund.

Hope this helps.

6



Richard Pruitt said:

Grandfather died in 1964, it was probated in Okla. county. We did not ind out about the possibilty of these minerals in Okmulgee county till seeing his name on the unclaimed property list. The major problem i see is he went by J.H. Lincoln and there are several on the list with no address and several with a post office number in Dewer Okla. which they say may be a woman, but all these have been in the fund for many years. The state will not tell us exactly what they need to prove the ownership other then mineral deed which would not exist in our names. Would a landman help in investigating if these minerals belonged to my grandfather or some one else. Thanks to all that have answered so far, just like to prove if these belong to us or not.
Matthew said:

Did you record in the Okmulgee County clerk's office the information you sent in to the Tax Commission back when they were handling unclaimed property funds?

Where did your grandfather die?

Where was his Estate probated? If probated in Oklahoma then all that is need is a certified copy of the probate decree recorded in Okmulgee County Clerk's office and that should take care of it.

If it was probated in another State then an ancillary probate will be necessary in Oklahoma, before the Treasurer's office will release the funds. The gas company on the other hand may only require an affidavit of heirship and that will prevent any further money being deposited in the Oklahoma Unclaimed proeprty fund.

Hope this helps.

Yes, someone an attorney or landman or someone who knows how to look up land records needs to go to Okmulgee county and find if your grandfather appears in the title to these minerals. I assume you know a section township and range for where you could start looking.

If you can confirm that, then record the final probate decree which will take care of the title problem for the state. The minerals pass automatically whether included in the probate or not. You just need to record the Probate decree to show it passes.

what the state needs to know is if your grandfather is the owner of the minerals and the only way to know that is hope there is old lease on file at the Okmulgee County Clerk's office with some identification on it that would connect up to your grandfather. ie a Social or a common address.

7



Matthew said:



Richard Pruitt said:
Grandfather died in 1964, it was probated in Okla. county. We did not ind out about the possibilty of these minerals in Okmulgee county till seeing his name on the unclaimed property list. The major problem i see is he went by J.H. Lincoln and there are several on the list with no address and several with a post office number in Dewer Okla. which they say may be a woman, but all these have been in the fund for many years. The state will not tell us exactly what they need to prove the ownership other then mineral deed which would not exist in our names. Would a landman help in investigating if these minerals belonged to my grandfather or some one else. Thanks to all that have answered so far, just like to prove if these belong to us or not.
Matthew said:

Did you record in the Okmulgee County clerk's office the information you sent in to the Tax Commission back when they were handling unclaimed property funds?

Where did your grandfather die?

Where was his Estate probated? If probated in Oklahoma then all that is need is a certified copy of the probate decree recorded in Okmulgee County Clerk's office and that should take care of it.

If it was probated in another State then an ancillary probate will be necessary in Oklahoma, before the Treasurer's office will release the funds. The gas company on the other hand may only require an affidavit of heirship and that will prevent any further money being deposited in the Oklahoma Unclaimed proeprty fund.

Hope this helps.

Yes, someone an attorney or landman or someone who knows how to look up land records needs to go to Okmulgee county and find if your grandfather appears in the title to these minerals. I assume you know a section township and range for where you could start looking.

If you can confirm that, then record the final probate decree which will take care of the title problem for the state. The minerals pass automatically whether included in the probate or not. You just need to record the Probate decree to show it passes.

what the state needs to know is if your grandfather is the owner of the minerals and the only way to know that is hope there is old lease on file at the Okmulgee County Clerk's office with some identification on it that would connect up to your grandfather. ie a Social or a common address.

Thank you for the help. i guess i will call the Okmulgee clerks office and see if they have a landmen working in the area and call and see what he would charge to investigate the records, I am not able to get around too well or i would go to Henryetta and look through the books. I think it would be worth while to do so since there are 57 wells on the OCC website for this section

8

Hi Richard.
Good Lord! This was confusing enough before when the reply was not in italics. It seems there is a problem with the site and everything is in italics, not separating the reply from the previous poster's message. If everyone would please address their reply to the person they are replying to it would help. Also, these threads get to be humongous after several replies. It helps to delete the previous message from the reply box before starting to type and that will stop ALL confusion. Have compassion on this old man. lol Life is tough enough.

Yours,

Wes Luke

9

Hi Richard,

I apologize for not answering when you posted. If the former leases are recorded in your g'father's name and you can show the probate was done with you as an heir, that should satisfy the state as to who owns the minerals. The state is just making sure they don't give the money to the wrong person/people. Maybe the woman was his wife. How far is Okmulgee County from you? Maybe a little investigating is in order.

I do wish you the best of luck.

Yours,

Wes Luke

10



Wes Luke said:

Hi Richard,

I apologize for not answering when you posted. If the former leases are recorded in your g'father's name and you can show the probate was done with you as an heir, that should satisfy the state as to who owns the minerals. The state is just making sure they don't give the money to the wrong person/people. Maybe the woman was his wife. How far is Okmulgee County from you? Maybe a little investigating is in order.

I do wish you the best of luck.

Yours,

Wes Luke

Wes thankyou for all the help. The major problem with the state is that all the listings they have are under J.H.Lincoln, which my grandfather is John Henry Lincoln but went by J.H. al of his life in all business transitions. The state does not have a S.S. Number on the person either. I think i will call the clerk's ofice Monday and seek out a name of a land man in the area or if there is a landman on the site in the area who would be willing to investigate this problem.

11

Hi Richard,

One thing I'm thinking is that back then it was very rare for a woman to be listed by initials instead of her name. With that in mind I think the "J.H." is your g'father. I don't see a woman during that time having a P.O. Box either. Things have changed dramatically in the past 50 years. I found letters in my g'father's papers that would seem excessively polite these day, but, they were the order of the day in the 40's. If you have time and care, go through your g'father's things and find fascinating relics, not worth a penny to anyone but you. Read everything he ever wrote in a letter if you have any letters. Many clues can be found there. Afterthought; You might call the post office and ask them if that box is in use, and if J.H. Lincoln is using it. Just imagine the junk mail that has been sent to that box in 50 years. lol