I will try to be brief! Many years ago, a great grandfather of mine sold 244 acres in Denton County, Tx, and left the state. For some unknown reason, he reserved the mineral rights for his heirs. The deed is on file in the Denton Cty Clerk's office. No one gave any thought to this - no one was aware of it - until the Barnett Shale activity. Cousins of mine were contacted by a company called Cherokee Horn and negotiated a lease. (They live in Tennessee but there is a similarity in their name and the name of the grandfather who reserved the mineral rights so perhaps that is how some landman or whatever contacted them and not me.) I want to do the same. I have an attorney who seems to be doing nothing. I paid him a fee and he, in turn, paid someone to calculate what my percentage of ownership would be but that is as far as he has gotten. (Why wouldn't the Production Company do that themselves?) I have documents which would establish my direct descent from the person who reserved the rights to his heirs. The land in question is in what is called the Francis Pearce survey which is just off I-35 on the west side of Lake Lewisville. I want to sit down with someone and resolve this matter. I live in Texas - I am willing to go wherever to take care of this. Thank you for any suggestions.
There are several possibilities. The company may have determined an incomplete heirship of great gramps. You would think they would have grilled the cousins for information on all of the heirs. As it stands now, they don't have 100% leased. Here is what you should do. Prepare an Affidavit of Heirship outlining all of the heirs of great gramps that you are aware of, or to the best of your knowledge. Sign it before a Notary Public. Record it in Denton County. Mail a copy and a letter to the company, explaining that you are an heir of great gramps, that you are aware they have leased some of your cousins, and that you are interested in leasing your undivided interest. Try that, and come back later and let me know how it went.
Dave Quincy said:
There are several possibilities. The company may have determined an incomplete heirship of great gramps. You would think they would have grilled the cousins for information on all of the heirs. As it stands now, they don't have 100% leased. Here is what you should do. Prepare an Affidavit of Heirship outlining all of the heirs of great gramps that you are aware of, or to the best of your knowledge. Sign it before a Notary Public. Record it in Denton County. Mail a copy and a letter to the company, explaining that you are an heir of great gramps, that you are aware they have leased some of your cousins, and that you are interested in leasing your undivided interest. Try that, and come back later and let me know how it went.
Before you go to the trouble of doing an Affidavit of Heirship, I would call the company and tell them of your ownership. An Affidavit of Heirship really needs to be signed by a disinterested party, if there is one.
The company will probably have a landman prepare this Affidavit with the information you or family members supply. Some of your great grandathers heirs may of had Wills directing how they wanted their Estates to go.
Go ahead and follow the original advice. It's much better. There is no legal requirement that a disinterested party needs to sign it, simply because a family member would be in a better position to know who all of the heirs are. That advice is a total fallacy, and I would urge you to ignore it. Anyone could call a company and tell them that they are an heir of so and so. If you prepare an Affidavit and record it, that will be much more credible. Obviously people die and leave wills. If known, that information can and should be included in the affidavit, One rule of thumb to follow when drafting an affidavit is the more information the better. You did mention that you had some other documentation. You could call the company armed with that, but in the meantime I wouldn't consider the suggested affidavit to be troublesome, It's going to be something that will need to be done to clarify Great Gramp's heirship, and it's also naive to think that someone "disinterested" will know the family tree like you do. Follow the original advice. Trust me on this.
Mr. Quincy is correct, there is no requirement to have a disinterested party sign an Affidavit. But which is more credible, a person with a vested interest or one who has none? I get a check every month because of an untruthful Affidavit given by a family member who was trying to increase his interest.
You have nothing to lose by calling the company or sending them copies of the documents you now have establishing your heirship. Most likely they will want to see the information you have anyhow. Either way you are putting them on notice that you have an intest in the minerals
You also have nothing to lose by following the original advice whether you call them first or not. There will be a nominal filing fee. I wasn't telling you to prepare it in the context of trying to satisfy a drillsite or division order title opinion. I was suggesting the idea so that it might start putting the title searcher on notice as to who the heirs of Great Gramps are. The company would probably like to see it to get an idea as to how many leases they will need to take, or compare notes with what they already know. Who knows? They may not lease you no matter what you show them. They may be satisfied with having an undivided interest under lease if it's not a core tract in their prospect, or if they see that Great Gramps had 75 heirs, then maybe it isn't worth it to them. But, however, by filing the affidavit now drafted by a knowledgeable person as yourself, at the very least it will put others on notice in the future as to how the reservation of Great Gramps played out. If at some point, that tract is ever drilled on, or unitized, and the company attorney doesn't feel comfortable with a lessor family member signing it, then that can be addressed then. There may be no other choice however. It might be difficult to find someone who could construct the heirship going back a few generations unless they were very "interested" or else a lineal descendent of Great Gramps themselves. My original advice stands. Get the ball rolling on getting something of record listing the heirs. If it is properly notarized and acknowledged, and your money is green, they will accept it for filing.
Thanks to everyone for their interest and suggestions. This actually is very much like what I did in January 2011. I completed a Texas affidavit stating the information about the 244 acres and my relationship to the person (my great, great grandfather) who reserved the rights when he sold it; I included the list of the direct descendants who lead to me; I stated my purpose was to claim my mineral rights, and I filed it with Denton County where it remains. I am a genealogist (by hobby) and have researched my lineage - no one who has left a will has made reference to the mineral rights. I think it was such an obscure thing to do that no one ever imagined it. I think my next step is to print up everything with my proofs (birth & death certificates, old census records, etc., etc.) and just walk into the offices of the company and stay until I can talk with someone who demonstrates some interest or who provides me with a reason that there is no point in pursuing it. I am not under the assumption that I will be an overnight millionaire. I just think I can't ignore what could be an asset of some sort. As a sidebar, I belong to a church that has been able to buy several blocks of downtown Houston in the last couple of years because members left the church some non-performing mineral or oil leases. Well, you can guess what happened over time! So my goal is to secure some official recognition which I could pass on. Many, many thanks - I will put my stuff together and head to Dallas or Ft. Worth (I believe there has been a recent change in the production company) and let you know what happens. Joann
Taking all your information to them is a good idea.
Evelyn J. Russell said:
Thanks to everyone for their interest and suggestions. This actually is very much like what I did in January 2011. I completed a Texas affidavit stating the information about the 244 acres and my relationship to the person (my great, great grandfather) who reserved the rights when he sold it; I included the list of the direct descendants who lead to me; I stated my purpose was to claim my mineral rights, and I filed it with Denton County where it remains. I am a genealogist (by hobby) and have researched my lineage - no one who has left a will has made reference to the mineral rights. I think it was such an obscure thing to do that no one ever imagined it. I think my next step is to print up everything with my proofs (birth & death certificates, old census records, etc., etc.) and just walk into the offices of the company and stay until I can talk with someone who demonstrates some interest or who provides me with a reason that there is no point in pursuing it. I am not under the assumption that I will be an overnight millionaire. I just think I can't ignore what could be an asset of some sort. As a sidebar, I belong to a church that has been able to buy several blocks of downtown Houston in the last couple of years because members left the church some non-performing mineral or oil leases. Well, you can guess what happened over time! So my goal is to secure some official recognition which I could pass on. Many, many thanks - I will put my stuff together and head to Dallas or Ft. Worth (I believe there has been a recent change in the production company) and let you know what happens. Joann
Dave, interesting advice about the affidavit without a disinterested party. I am in a similar situation here in Texas where the family knows of no one who is alive (and disinterested / not family) who is familiar with the deceased and his heirs.
Evelyn, you mentioned a change of the production company. Are you referring to the acreage in Denton County? Has it already been drilled?
Hi, Kitchen: Yes, I was referring to the acreage in Denton County. My attorney (who is a very nice man but has done nothing) says it has been drilled and some (I don't know how many or what percentage) are producing. Thanks for your interest. Evelyn Joann
Evelyn,
I am in the same boat, except I am trying to do this from (way) out of state. When you find out what works with establishing heirship and what the county actually needs will you please share? I too have considered flying down to TX and talking to someone face to face, but would prefer not to. I have a certified copy of the (unprobated) will of the mineral rights owner and want to have his wife (he had no children or siblings) to whom he left everything, named on the deed. My relative's property is in Gaines County. Tried asking Clerk what was required but she said they don't give legal advice, they just record the filed documents.
Susan: I'll be glad to let you know. I'd like to do something in person the first week of April. Evelyn Joann
Best of luck.