How to distribute the mineral rights retained by a trust

Wayne Wright · 2015-06-10T20:05:59Z

My mother owned two parcels of land in two different counties in Texas. During her lifetime, she deeded those two properties to an irrevocable trust whose terms indicate its income benefits her during her lifetime, and then the principal is to be distributed to her children. The trust sold those two properties, but those deeds retained all mineral rights. Neither is under lease. One parcel was sold before her death, the other afterward. On the former, she held 100% of the minerals for the property as they had never been severed, for the latter, the percentage is roughly 50% as prior owners had retained percentages. The question: what steps does the trust need to take to distribute those mineral rights to the five beneficiaries? I am the trustee and also one of the beneficiaries. I believe that the trustee needs to file deeds in the two counties conveying those mineral interests. However, I don't even know how many deeds are required. One naming all the beneficiaries? Or five separate ones?

General Mineral Rights Discussion