The state we're leasing in is ND. Once again your comments have been very helpful. Thanks!
r w kennedy said:
Jean, you may not want to hear this but they may not have even begun to check your family members title, after all, the lessee is in no hurry because they already have the lease. I don't know what state you are in but in many states if more than one potential lessee holds a lease, the one that records the lease first is the winner. If company A holds your executed lease but doesn't record it and company B offers to lease you and you execute their lease and they record it, having already paid you, because you wouldn't want to just trade one non-payer for another, then company A's lease is worthless. You can search online to see if your state is a Race or a Notice state. You would have to check to see if company A who isn't paying now has recorded the lease or not. If you can interest another lessee in the minerals, they could probably easily check to see if the lease was recorded. Texas is a notice state. ND is a race state, which I am most familliar with. The state of ND allows you to lease to another party and the one to record first wins, it's a protection for the mineral owner, to make the lessee commit, so the mineral owner will not be left in limbo with a lease out there that the lessee may have no intention of paying for or is taking too long to run title or pay for. Just a thought. It's really hard to work yourself back to where you have any control after you give the lessee an executed lease without having been paid, and that is why they tell you to send them the executed lease, they know that you are then at a disadvantage, become dependant on them to do the right thing unless it's enough money to sue and you have the means to do so, and the knowledge of what you can do. The lessee may pay your family member, months from now after they complete their title work but there is no gurantee.