Hello All,
I am new to the site and would appreciate your input. I recently received a royalty check for a little over one dollar in connection with an oil, gas and mineral lease agreement (Anderson County, TX) that was allegedly agreed to by my deceased father. I requested a copy of the lease agreement from the company that issued the check. The lease agreement contains a statement by a notary acknowledging that my father signed the instrument. However, the actual lease only contains my father's name in type-written form with no signature. Similarly, the notary statement is not signed by the notary and there is no notary seal. Instead the notary's name appears in typewritten form. My father apparently inherited this property from his great-grandfather. The issue is that my father was unable to read or write and I find it difficult to believe that he would sign a contract that he could neither read or understand. I know that an unsigned lease in today's world would be difficult to validate. However, I wonder if this sort of lease was legally sufficent back then. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. FYI, I was able to obtain a recorded copy of the lease which mirrors the copy that I received from the Lessee's rep.
