I just inherited mineral rights from my Mom in bryan county, OK. The lease recently expired and I’m researching the history to try to educate myself about it. My brother is a registered land surveyor and using the legal description, we determined the proper has 110 acres. I’ve read the lease contract which has the legal description and states that its 110 acres and says it will pay 3/16 royalty. The contract doesn’t mention the $1200.00 per acre bonus. But when I look at a letter from Chesapeake, it says they are paying $1200.00 per acre for 13.3333 acres for a total of $16,000.00. The lease was made in 2007 and was for 5 years so, again, its expired. Before I contact them to see if they are interested in leasing it again I wanted to familiarize myself with the process when I came across this info and it doesn’t make since to me. Can somebody tell me what I’m missing or did my Mom get cheated by not getiing paid for the full 110 acres? Thanks in advance for your help.
Did your Mother own all 110 acres or were there others (perhaps a brother or sister, aunt or uncle) who also had part ownership? Also did just you inherit from her or also your brother? The 13.33333 acres might be your portion of the 110 acres, and that is how they write the contracts in such cases.
My Mom owned 1/3 of the mineral rights of the 110 acres so I don’t know how they came up with 13.333. My Mom was pretty thorough so I’m pretty sure she didn’t allow herself to get cheated. She also had an attorney involved. I’m going to the area to visually check the property and try to get the title changed to my name. Hopefully I will clear it up then.
I’m going to call Chesapeake to see if they want to lease again. Is that advisable? I’m not sure if that is something that owners do or if you just wait for someone to call you. It took 80 years for these mineral rights to ever be leased. Thanks again for any help/input./>
Nancy Mosley said:
Did your Mother own all 110 acres or were there others (perhaps a brother or sister, aunt or uncle) who also had part ownership? Also did just you inherit from her or also your brother? The 13.33333 acres might be your portion of the 110 acres, and that is how they write the contracts in such cases.
What is the legal description? Section Township and Range
It’s in section 26 (NW 1/4) township 5S range 12E It’s about 5 miles north of Bennington.
Rick Howell said:
What is the legal description? Section Township and Range
I thought there might be some production hold part of it. It looks like they signed 5 year leases on it.
There are at least 7 people that leased tracts covering the same area. It may be divided more than you think it is. Hannah, Engler, and Durant family names.
Thanks for your time Rick,
I have 1/3 of the Engler part. The way I read it, there are 110 acres in the Engler land.
Rick Howell said:
I thought there might be some production hold part of it. It looks like they signed 5 year leases on it.
There are at least 7 people that leased tracts covering the same area. It may be divided more than you think it is. Hannah, Engler, and Durant family names.
Someone would have to run title on it. All I did was look at the names and tract descriptions on the leases.
From my experience (although somewhat limited) when someone posts large percentage of ownership in a tract they are usually not aware of the many times it split. Most of the time it was inherited property and the rights were first split in the 30s-50s. Then you will have 2-4 splits after that. In many cases, they sold 1/2 the mineral rights in the 20-30s. Or sold the land and retained 1/2. That 1/4 would have only started with 160 acres. That portion 110, so to only split in 1/3 in 100 years would not be very common. having 13 would be closer to my expectations, but I have seen large tracts fairly intact.
Do those other 2 names show up in your distant family history?
The Hannah name is unfamiliar. My grandfather, Joe Engler, owned the land in the 20/30s. When he sold it, he kept the mineral rights. It has been handed down to his daughters, one of them my Mom. I don’t think it was split other than that. To be clear, while its in the NW 1/4, its NOT the entire NW 1/4. My sister and I are coming to Durant this week to try to have the title transferred into our name or at least find out what we have to do to get it in our names. While we are there, we are going to drive to the land just to see if anything is going on in the area.
If the lease contract says 110 acres, is it possible that they describe the entire property but only actually lease a portion, in this case 40 acres? If so, that would make sense making 13.333 a third of the 40.
Again, Rick, I do appreciate your help. I’m pretty much ignorant to this process and your opinion is good to hear.
Rick Howell said:
Someone would have to run title on it. All I did was look at the names and tract descriptions on the leases.
From my experience (although somewhat limited) when someone posts large percentage of ownership in a tract they are usually not aware of the many times it split. Most of the time it was inherited property and the rights were first split in the 30s-50s. Then you will have 2-4 splits after that. In many cases, they sold 1/2 the mineral rights in the 20-30s. Or sold the land and retained 1/2. That 1/4 would have only started with 160 acres. That portion 110, so to only split in 1/3 in 100 years would not be very common.
having 13 would be closer to my expectations, but I have seen large tracts fairly intact.
Do those other 2 names show up in your distant family history?
They were leasing the entire section, all 640 acres during that time. So I doubt the 40 acre scenario.
I think there are 3 possibilities
1) A mistake made by the landman doing the title research
2) The intentional action by CHK that you referenced in your original post
3) There are transactions you are not aware of and 13.3s is the correct ownership.
Of those, I think there is a small chance on #1 There may be issues with unknown heirs or assignments and she was not credited with some ownership she may have been due. But that is usually found when they lease one of the heirs. #2 CHK has done many things that I feel is unethical, primarily cold drafting leases. But I still think there is almost zero chance they intentionally did it. #3 is the most coming finding when these questions come up. Surface transfer with partial minerals or partial mineral transfers were very common during the 20-50s.
There are two basic ways property can transfer in Oklahoma (and maintain marketable title.
A deed or judicial action. The judicial action could be an Oklahoma probate, quite title suit, judgment to a civil case, bankruptcy etc. The lack of a recorded deed or judicial action can cause a cloud on the title.
So there are many questions some of your statements lead me to ask.
Where/how did your grandfather obtain the rights?
How was the mineral rights “handed down” from your grandfather to your mother? Was there a probate, trust with a trustee’s deed to the beneficiary, or a deed while he was still alive?
How did you and your siblings “inherit” the ownership? I’m assuming your mother passed. Was there a will? Was the estate probated? And in what state was it probated?
It looks like the some of this 1/4 section may have been owned at one time by Bee Durant and Missie Johnson Durant. It would have been divided by 1/3 in 1987 on her death.
You may have quite a bit of research to do when you get to the Bryan County court house.
Rick, there is a high probability that your number 3 scenario is right. We are talking to a lawyer in Durant tomorrow that did the title work for my Mom. I have the mineral deed in front of me but it is written in legalese language which I don’t understand very well. But it states that it covers “undivided interest in and to” and then gives legal description. As far as how it was passed down, my grandparents kept the rights when they sold the land in early 1900’s, when my grandfather passed in the 80’s my grandmother created a trust which the rights were in. My mother received 1/3 of the rights when my Grandmother died and in the last 5-7 years, my Mom created a trust that the rights were in. When she passed earlier this year, the rights came to me and 2 siblings. You are correct in saying I’m not sure how much of the rights my Grandfather originally kept, but I always assumed it was ALL of them.
I’m guessing that if I contact Chesapeake, they could tell me what they THINK my family owns as far as the mineral rights. From what I’ve read on this forum it doesn’t sound like a quick and simple thing to find out this information at the county offices. I think I need to find out though, wouldn’t you agree?
Thanks again and ill let you know what I find out in the days to come. I’m impressed that you are pulling out all of this information. You obviously are well versed in this stuff.
Rick Howell said:
They were leasing the entire section, all 640 acres during that time. So I doubt the 40 acre scenario.
I think there are 3 possibilities
1) A mistake made by the landman doing the title research
2) The intentional action by CHK that you referenced in your original post
3) There are transactions you are not aware of and 13.3s is the correct ownership.Of those, I think there is a small chance on #1 There may be issues with unknown heirs or assignments and she was not credited with some ownership she may have been due. But that is usually found when they lease one of the heirs. #2 CHK has done many things that I feel is unethical, primarily cold drafting leases. But I still think there is almost zero chance they intentionally did it. #3 is the most coming finding when these questions come up. Surface transfer with partial minerals or partial mineral transfers were very common during the 20-50s.
There are two basic ways property can transfer in Oklahoma (and maintain marketable title.
A deed or judicial action. The judicial action could be an Oklahoma probate, quite title suit, judgment to a civil case, bankruptcy etc. The lack of a recorded deed or judicial action can cause a cloud on the title.
So there are many questions some of your statements lead me to ask.Where/how did your grandfather obtain the rights?
How was the mineral rights “handed down” from your grandfather to your mother? Was there a probate, trust with a trustee’s deed to the beneficiary, or a deed while he was still alive?
How did you and your siblings “inherit” the ownership? I’m assuming your mother passed. Was there a will? Was the estate probated? And in what state was it probated?It looks like the some of this 1/4 section may have been owned at one time by Bee Durant and Missie Johnson Durant. It would have been divided by 1/3 in 1987 on her death.
You may have quite a bit of research to do when you get to the Bryan County court house.
I’m not sure CHK will help you much at this point. They are not trying to lease or drill. So it may be a bit time consuming for them to pull the records.
You are correct. It is not that simple to find it. But you have a large part of the info needed. You could look for your grandfathers name in the index book and search toward both ends and likely find it. I agree you should try to find out and get any clouds cleared up. At least find out everything needed for the future. You may not want to spend the money now, but if you get a lease offer, it might be a good investment to clear it up.
I’m been clearing up title chain in my family’s ownership for some time so I know what you are facing. I’ve also helped a few other do it. The Bryan Co records are on line from 1993 to the present. http://okcountyrecords.com/ However all that gives us are clues at this point.
Rick
Well I got the deed transferred into our name and also looked at the property. The lawyer that did the deed pretty much confirmed what you have already told me. Most property in the area has mineral rights that have been split several times back in the 20s-40s. Also while there isn’t any activity there right now, he said that when natural gas prices rise, there’s a good chance that Chesapeake will come back, at some time to renew the lease. He felt like the chances are excellent that there’s natural gas at the property and when the price is right, they will go after it. If that happens, I’ll ask them to provide me the information showing how the rights have been split up.
Thanks for all of your help. I was totally ignorant about all of this until you helped me with your knowledge. Now I’m just partially ignorant. I thought I would let you know what I found out since you helped me out and gave me your time. I do appreciate it.
Thanks again.
Rick Howell said:
I’m not sure CHK will help you much at this point. They are not trying to lease or drill. So it may be a bit time consuming for them to pull the records.
You are correct. It is not that simple to find it. But you have a large part of the info needed. You could look for your grandfathers name in the index book and search toward both ends and likely find it. I agree you should try to find out and get any clouds cleared up. At least find out everything needed for the future. You may not want to spend the money now, but if you get a lease offer, it might be a good investment to clear it up.
I’m been clearing up title chain in my family’s ownership for some time so I know what you are facing. I’ve also helped a few other do it. The Bryan Co records are on line from 1993 to the present. http://okcountyrecords.com/ However all that gives us are clues at this point.
Thanks for the follow-up info. I think we'll see some more exploration for NG. But it may be several years before they start exploring in areas without a presence of liquids. You never know what they might discover there later either!