About 2 years ago I inherited a portion of 2 mineral leases in Scurry County, Texas. The Appraisal District and Tax Office both have me on record as owning the leases, and I am paying property taxes on them.
However, I am not receiving any royalties from the lease operators, nor have I received any communication or paperwork from them regarding my ownership.
The overall estate is still tied up in probate, and the attorney handling it isn’t being very responsive to my questions. I believe, but am not certain, that the royalty payments are still being made to the estate.
I don’t understand how the county can have me on record as owner, but the lease operator does not. Can someone shed any light on this? What constitutes “ownership”? Is there something on file at the county clerk’s office?
This is not a huge deal, but I’d really like to understand how the flow of ownership works. Mostly I’m frustrated that I’m responsible for paying property taxes but not receiving any revenue from the lease.
The lease operators, as best I can tell from the tax records, are Kinder Morgan and Wagner Oil. Should I just contact their Land departments and start asking questions?
many thanks for any advice or information anyone can give me.
That’s a great start, contact the operator of the lease and the gatherer/purchaser and let them know you are the current owner. More than likely they will want to see a recorded copy of the probate record and the judges order. Provide those companies with those documents, ask for them to send you a division order, sign and return that, and you should be on your way to receiving your royalty check. Remember that it’s not the operators duty to go to the county clerks office and run title checks to see if title has changed hands each year, it’s your burden of proof to the operator to prove your ownership. Even if the taxing authority has the correct records and you’ve been paying taxes, the oil company will be holding these monies in suspense accounts until the rightfull owner steps in and proves ownership.
Writing to Bill Jaehne (or other interested): I am new to this and representing family mineral rights interests. Back in 2005 our relative (who willed to us) signed an Oil & Gas lease (exploratory) with my Grandfather. They paid him a certain amount and held open possibilities for future compensation. Now it turns out the landman / Lease did not correctly identify the two properties. It was close - but not exact apparently. I don’t know exactly what happened after that since my Grandfather passed away about 6 months later. It seems to me that the best thing to do at this point is to go the county courthouse in Crockett, TX and do some research. I have a lot of supporting documentation, especially about my grandfathers family which will be important. My goal is really to 1) correctly identify (correct if needed) what our family owns and 2) Determine what the potential is. When I go to the courthouse I need to know what to do? I need a book “Mineral Rights for Dummies” yes? hahaaha Really, how do I organize myself so that the one or two days I spend there are most useful??? I am going to have to fly in from Arizona.
What has been frustrating for me so far is the round and round conversations I have been having with a certain landman and a (different from the Lease) Gas Company. The landman said things were in “curative” - ie - curing the title and then nothing more on that subject. I was producing for the past year - then no - it wasn’t. The gas company says they have no interest unless they are drilling. I would have thought their Division Analysts would want to know everything about the property in case they wanted to proceed and make offers to the mineral rights owners. If something is permitted, does that mean that no other company can drill in that location? The Whaley Gas Unit in Houston County / Decker Switch is CLOSE. Title Opinions - I guess gas Companies hold those “Close to the chest” - although I think it would really help solve things. Uggg I may be able to pay someone to help me depending on what it is OK. Hope for anyones assistance.
Sincerely, Scott
Bill Jaehne said:
That’s a great start, contact the operator of the lease and the gatherer/purchaser and let them know you are the current owner. More than likely they will want to see a recorded copy of the probate record and the judges order. Provide those companies with those documents, ask for them to send you a division order, sign and return that, and you should be on your way to receiving your royalty check. Remember that it’s not the operators duty to go to the county clerks office and run title checks to see if title has changed hands each year, it’s your burden of proof to the operator to prove your ownership. Even if the taxing authority has the correct records and you’ve been paying taxes, the oil company will be holding these monies in suspense accounts until the rightfull owner steps in and proves ownership.