Inherited Mineral Rights

My mother received a call from an Antero Landman some weeks back who said that Antero had been trying to locate mineral rights heirs for 3 pieces of property in Wetzel County since 2018. He had tracked my mother down because she had been married to my father, though they divorced 20 years ago and he passed away in 2022. She let the landman know that they were not married at the time of his death and that his only heir would be me, as I am his only child. She sent in the divorce paperwork and went ahead and sent my birth certificate as well to remove herself from the process. Apparently the mineral rights were owned by his father or grandfather, and has apparently been split among a few people, and were leased to Antero in 2019 by a few of the heirs that could be located. I’m new to this side of things, and I have a few questions. I contacted the landman, but he has yet to contact me back. He told my mother that Antero had been looking for the rest of the heirs for years, and had eventually turned it over to him because he specializes in harder cases. With the lease being signed before anyone located me or even my father, how do the royalties typically work? Were all payments due split among the heirs that had been found, or would Antero had kept other royalty payments while they worked on finding the heirs they had trouble locating? I’m sure this seems like a stupid question, but while I’m familiar with the industry, I’ve never dealt with this side of it. I know which pieces of property it was, I know which wells they were, I know the total production to date, I’ve even found the lease that was signed by one party for 15%. But I’m completely lost about the rest of this. Any help would be appreciated.

They should be holding in suspension account any royalty money due to the Not Yet Located heirs. I have had that happen for my mother several years ago so I know. Ask them about that.

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Thank you so much. I’m still waiting to hear from them, but I’ll make sure to ask them about it when they contact me. I genuinely appreciate the help.

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Landman just got in touch with me on Friday. Apparently no one has been paid yet because they’ve been trying to figure out the heirs since before the lease was signed in 2019. And that does explain why one person already sold their rights.

This will most likely take quite a bit of time. I have worked on several similar projects of this nature. Antero will complete the title research and then proceed to a Quiet Title Action or a Determination of Death and Heirship (Probate) proceeding. Their title to the OGL is encumbered, similar to your interest, so they have a vested interest to complete the work.

Yeah, the landman mentioned that it was nearly done, and then he got told to stop and they dumped 10 more on him to sort out that took priority over ours. He said he should be able to get it submitted within a couple of weeks.