I was recently sent letters from companies offering to purchase certain mineral rights that I own. From what these companies have told me, they use land men to find out who the owners of the rights are and then they mail out offers. I was aware of these initial mineral rights as I would get a small check every few months. However, after talking with family members it seems as though we may have mineral rights in a few other counties and states. Can anyone guide me in a direction where I can find out exactly what we own regarding these other counties and states? Do I need to hire a land man or am I able to search county records online? I have Section, Township, and Ranges in certain counties such as Hill County, MT, Carter County, Ok, Johnston County, Ok, Garvin County, Ok, etc. Thank you all for your help!
For Oklahoma, you can search www.okcountyrecords.com for most of the counties. Always good to make a good master list of your holdings. State, county, legal description, net acres, Status (producing or non producing), have copies of deeds, probate documents, leases, division orders, etc.
Post on the Montana part of the forum and someone can probably give you the link for Montana. Usually counties will have an online database, but it may not go back very far.
The origination documents (will, probate, deeds) may give the net acres, but not always. You can contact the operators that are paying you and get a copy of the paragraph of the title opinion that states the title path to your minerals. Ask how many net minerals they are paying on.
The Mineral Help tab above may be helpful for you. Also, the National Association of Royalty Owners has quite a bit of opportunities for education and learning. They have a tab on the forum and post their state and national meetings.
Thank you Martha! This information is very helpful.