On the Texas Unclaimed Property site, I discovered that there are a number of royalty payments due to my deceased husband from wells and/or property his family owned.
They are asking for property info (they provided property IDs) and division orders for the properties. I have no idea where to begin to find this info.
Can someone point me in the right direction please and thank you!
Do you have any paperwork that has clues to the descriptions with a county, operator, old check stubs, probate documents, etc.? The property ID might help with the RCC maps, but if they are internal company IDs then it won’t.
You could start with a look on www.TexasFile.com and look up his name and any ancestors that he might have had that gave it to him. That could give you the first start. It is relatively inexpensive to look (free) and print (small fee).
If the unclaimed property gives the operator name, then you can contact the operator and ask them what you need to do to get copies of the Division Orders.
Thanks for the quick reply. I’ve been trying to find documentation, however I can’t find anything among his papers. The only info I have is the property IDs and Company name. Mostly Chevron, a few TEP Barnett, and two Sunoco. I’ll try reaching out to them.
I just saw your post and am somewhat confused - who is asking for property info and division orders?
A couple of years ago, I starting receiving offers to buy mineral rights I did not know I had a claim to. After determining the rights were in the name of a relative, I searched Texas Unclaimed Property and found years of payments. TUP only required me to provide proof that I was the legal heir of the named person and then they paid the amounts they held.
After that, I contacted each of the entities that had escheated funds to TUP and asked if they had the relative on their books and what I needed to do to get on their pay list, Again, I had to provide proof of heirship which had to be filed in multiple counties and then the info provided to the payer.
I am in the same boat. The Texas Unclaimed Property (TUP) lists only Property ID and the Oil Company for my deceased grandmother’s unclaimed mineral royalties. First TUP only wanted proof of heirship which I provided, but recently TUP sent a letter requiring Legal Description and Division Order for her listed Property IDs.
She had no paperwork when she died concerning these mineral rights, and I don’t even know which Counties are involved. How do I search for the above info based only on Property IDs?
I tried TexasFile but there is no way of searching via Property ID and searching on my grandmother’s name comes up with no records. Help!
The property id may be the oil company’s internal id, not a state well lease number. Some counties on Texasfile have limited years available. Did you also look under your grandmother’s maiden name and for her parents? Was your grandmother (or parents) from another state and the royalties were remitted to Texas because it was her address?
Thanks for your reply. Turns out the Property ID is simply the record ID within the TUP database, and therefore has no relation to the original mineral royalty info.
My grandmother (deceased, lived in Iowa) inherited the rights from her sister (deceased, lived in Oklahoma), and we have all of the Oklahoma court records transferring the mineral rights, but nothing concerning Texas. All paperwork is in the grandmother’s married name.
Is it possible that unclaimed Oklahoma well royalties were submitted in Texas because that is where the Oil company was located? One company on the Unclaimed list sent me info regarding a well in Oklahoma, so that is why I was curious about interstate claims.
I talked with the TUP Claim Examiner, but they could not provide any additional info or help. Seems like these royalties are lost forever!
Do you now the name of the well in OK? We may be able to help with the current operator. Did you check unclaimed funds in Iowa as well? Probably was filed in TX since the operator was in TX. It sometimes takes multiple tries at the TX office.
Under the uniform rules of unclaimed property, the funds are supposed to be filed with the state of residence of the last known owner. If they don’t know where your grandmother lived, then, typically, it goes to the state where the property is located.
I strongly suspect the funds are from your grandmother’s Oklahoma property and not from Texas. You should also check missingmoney.com and the unclaimed property divisions in Iowa and Delaware. While the above are generally the rules, sometimes they are not followed exactly.
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