Allen, I have no legal training whatsoever, so others may have more relevant comments to your questions.
If I were in your situation, I would file the affidavit with the County Clerk and ask that the original be returned to me. Then a copy of the filed document would be mailed to Trinity for their files, showing the book and page for their future reference. A followup call to make sure that their needs are satisfied would be made.
A concern for the future that I would have, is doing whatever it takes to achieve a marketable title to these mineral rights in your dad’s name. That will be important in the future so that he can sell or transfer title, or bequeath them.
I know this is going a bit further than you asked, but you and your father may wish to prepare or have your wills prepared. If you read these forums very much, you will see many others dealing with problems that would have been more easily dealt with in a timely manner. Just my 2 cents worth. Maybe more knowledgeable folk will provide a better answer.
Just a bit more information that may help you. If someone dies intestate in OK, they have very specific rules about how the assets are divided-especially between spouses and children. If the person dies in another state, but their assets are in OK, then you have to abide by the laws of that state.
First time to post and new mineral right owner. I would really like to get to know the people I share land with. I would also like to get to know my neighbors. I have S12 T6N N9E NW NE, S6 T6N R10E l3-5, S6 T6N R10E SE NW, NW/4 of 6-6N-10E and SW of 6-6N 10E. If I share land with you, please contact me. I would really like to meet you and share information. I am very new at this. I have been self educatiing myself as much as possible. Thank you for your support
Terra, Welcome to the Forum. If you are new at this, I would suggest that you read the helpful blogs at the tab at the top, read the last six months of the Hughs comment wall and discussion forum, and read Mineral Help tab at the top.
There has been some leasing in 2017 in 12-6N-9E and quite a bit of leasing in 6-6N-10E. If you are a new mineral owner and just received your mineral rights, make sure that your name and address and description of your rights are filed with the county clerk. It is a minimal fee to do so. Then the land men can find you.
If your ancestor production, then you need to contact the operator to get the royalties turned over to you.
Terra, we are "near neighbors", a few miles to the SE of you, where production began about 10 yrs ago in the Woodford formation. My wife and I knew very little about mineral ownership. We have learned a lot since, and wish we had known more before those initial leases. Martha Barnes is such a valuable and generous helper to all of us. If you are not leased yet, come back to this forum for assistance before signing anything.
In the meantime, you will want to learn to use the resources of the Oklahoma Corporation Commission. Their printable booklet "Basic Information for the Oklahoma Royalty Owner" at http://www.occeweb.com/og/Basic%20Information%20417.pdf is a good place to begin. As you learn to search their data for information on activity in your sections, if you have trouble, come back for help.
See page 67 of the booklet, instructions for searching the Mineral Owners Escrow Account for unclaimed funds related to pooling and royalty payments to unlocateable owners. You may also want to search the State Treasurers Unclaimed Property site. You may not find any funds, but I and many others have. Be sure to use all possible variants of names and initials of any family members from whom you may have inherited.
Take a look at the NARO (National Association of Royalty Owners) website http://www.naro-us.org . Our investment in membership and attendance of the Oklahoma Chapter has been well worth the cost in our particular case. That may or may not be the case for others.
I have just now downloaded your recommended booklet "Basic Information for the Oklahoma mineral owner." I did 'not' know about this booklet.
Thank you. I have been with the forum about 3 years now and have benefited multiple times from your willingness to educate those of us who are struggling to be more informed.........Leta C.
We have 25 NMA in Hughes County (6-9N-10E,7-9N-10E, 18-9N-10E) and have been back and forth with Calyx (original letter was from Compass Land Resources) . The current "final" offer is a $200 bonus and a 1/5 royalty.
I countered at $250 bonus and the 1/5 and got a "no" so I would appreciate any thoughts on this offer. Thank you!
Susan, good try, but it bumped up against their max they would pay. The closest poolings to you only had $225 for 3/16, so $200 for 1/5 is reasonable. The terms of the lease are more important than the bonus. Make sure you have no post production costs whatsoever. No "however" increased value......
If you believe that your counter offer is fair/reasonable/etc, then you might consider going through the pooling process in which mineral owners can select the option of interest and lease bonus that in most cases maximizes their financial interests. Be advised that there are cons to this strategy which include 1) you don't get your lease bonus money now but in the future which is sometimes a long time and 2) you have to track the pooling process to ensure that you don't get left out of the pooling options selection process (which I am convinced that some operators deliberately do, especially to small interest owners who they believe will not fight it). I have utilized this strategy before and been successful but in all cases it was a long wait (to get lease bonus money) and I did not receive a pooling options selection letter in one instance and was assigned the default lease option and had to go back and fight this with the leasing agent / operator (I won without an attorney but it was a significant hassle).
There may be other cons and / or experiences to this approach / strategy that other members of the community will want to contribute.
You should definitely read about pooling in the document "Basic Information for the Oklahoma Royalty Owner" that W. Skinner attached in several comments below your comment.
Hello Robert: I actually have had the opposite experience with the bonus payment. I have always been paid when leasing happened through pooling. Onthe other hand, I have signed a lease outside of pooling, and was never paid the bonus. That organization did formally release the signed leases, but it was disappointing. This situation did happen in Hughes County in 2014, so I am hoping for a better outcome now that leasing is picking up here!
I'm new to this, and have a slew of mineral interests in umpteen Oklahoma counties. I was born in Pott. County, and live in McClain County. I guess hello, is what I'd like to say first.
I'm glad I found this forum! Just 12 more counties to join and I'm set!
Secondly, I have a question:
T:8N R:10E S:11 & 12
Cambria Energy keeps trying to buy several of my mineral interests in the above sections, even though they are leased by Calix Energy III. I don't know that I have been receiving payments from Calix, or if those wells are still producing at all. They are offering 1,200.00 to 1,500.00 an acre though, so I'm guessing those wells might be plugged and holding, or barely pumping? Does anyone know? Does anyone know about Cambria's quest to buy up all these interests, and leases. I know they must have a massive postal budget. I get a letter addressed to my mom (who died 18 months ago and left me all these mineral interests) about three times a month. I wish they'd pay their land man to make sure they send out their letters addressed to the current, not previous owners, too...lol Anyway, is there an obvious reason Calix isn't producing, or that Cambria is trying to buy up everything?
Welcome to the forum! You will learn quite a bit from each county!
First of all, read over the last six months in each county to get a feel for what is going on. Read the blogs at the top. Read the do's and don'ts of leasing if you aren't familiar.
DON'T sell anything until you get a good handle on what is going on. Any time someone wants to buy, they think they will make a profit off of you and you need to get as informed as possible before making a decision.
That being said, there is a huge land play being made in Hughes with some deep pocket money, so hold tight. There is quite a bit of horizontal drilling in that township and more headed that way. Sec 12 has a brand new order regarding a horizontal well from 36 south into 1 and 12 (hence your offers). So don't sell that one for sure right now.
I am not a lawyer, but I have a comment on your wish that these folks would pay their landman to notice that you're the current owner?
How did you inherit your mother's mineral holdings? If it was through probate, then I believe you need to make sure that the final probate document is filed in each of the counties in which you have holdings, and of course, that the holdings are correctly listed in the probate document. That should be enough to cause landmen to notice your ownership. Even here, though, it may depend on whether you were the named beneficiary of the specific interest or are the residual beneficiary of the will. Either of those makes you the owner, of course, but you're trying to get the transfer of ownership noticed by (1) the clerk who indexes the document to the specific land section, and (2) the landman who researches the records for purposes of leasing or purchasing.
If you acquired the holdings in some other way (trust, for example), then the required action may vary. Are you now the trustee or not, is it the trust still titled as it was, etc.
Rudy, I inherited them, as the only son and sole heir, and the paperwork listing all know interest descriptions was entered into all the counties and filed. My comment was because just yesterday I received three letters from Cambridge about 3 different interests, and they were addressed to my mother. I know the full probate with my info was filed in Hughes Co, as well as the others, but they still send the stuff to my mother, not me.
Will someone provide information regarding leasing and drilling activity in the area of Section 25 8N 8 E in Hughes County. Your assistance is appreciated.
Thank you very much for this information . Will you provide direction on how to move forward?? We hold 80 acres of mineral rights in this section. I know almost nothing about mineral leasing or the O & G companies you mention. Seems DYE would hold some interest since they are already leasing in 25? Your thoughts are appreciated.