I looked in the legal notice of our county paper and notice that "the gas company" had filed with the court to add certain unlocatable mineral owners to a trust that is administrated by the court. After attempting to look in court files for more information if my family may have an interest, the files contained very little information to go on. I called the lawyer who filed this notice in local paper and he said he could not give me anymore info than was in the paper or what was on file with the court. I contacted "the gas company" and they refused to provide me with any other info. They said the info that was available was all that was required by them by law. All i wanted was name, % ownership, land description and dollar amount to be submitted to court to be put into trust. I wanted this to see if it was worth my time to research my possible heirship. I told the company after they refused to give me anymore info that I was not asking for a check! Wasn't this notice in paper a chance for someone-s to have a chance to make a claim on suit? I was told no, its to late and i would have to apply to court, not the gas company, even though the court will not finalize the addition of these people to this court held trust for another 6 weeks. Seems a little unfair and not right. What do you think?
Dear Mr. Broadbrooks,
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the company appears to be following the statutes. What we have at this point is notice by publication for an impending legal action. Anybody (missing heir) can come forward to prove that they have a valid claim. In the notice, a description of the property should be included.
Unfair and not right is not a legal remedy. Our system of justice, while appearing imperfect and unfair at times, is still the best system developed. I cannot remember the name of the Chief Justice admonishing a lawyer to the effect of "you came here looking for justice. This is not a Court of Justice. It is a Court of Law."
I see where you own property in MT and TX. If this is Texas Property, the relevant law is Subschapter F of the receivership statutes.
Go here to read the statute.
http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/Docs/CP/htm/CP.64.htm
If the property is located in MT, I do not know the relevant statutes offhand.
The statutes were enacted to facilitate the drilling of wells where the mineral owner (or royalty owner) could not be located. An attorney ad litem will be appointed to represent the unknown heirs. The funds (bonus only, likely) will be deposited with the registry of the court. The attorney ad litem is charged with negotiating the lease on behalf of the missing heirs. At any time, you can come forward with proof of ownership.
My only advice is to look at the names listed as defendant on the notice publication and see if they are your predecessors. That is pretty much as far as the oil company could go with finding successors and then they lost the trail. I will say this, some landmen are MUCH better than others in locating missing heirs.
Best
Buddy Cotten
Is there any particular additional information you are looking for? In Texas the online permits usually have a pretty good amount of information about pools and units, unleased owners, unleased parcels, plat maps of the well/pool/unit, etc.
First, thanks for taking time to answer my question Buddy, YOU ARE GOOD and you too Kitchen. The land and mineral rights are in Montana and are monies from past production. Do affidavits of heirships carry any water in a Montana Court? They were filed on this minerals and transferred by company, but monies from past production before creation of trust was never claimed from the court trust.
This make sense. It is the responsibility of the owner of the rights to protect them. In mineral leases, it is the responsibility of the Lessor, or their heirs, to notify the oil company in the event of any change of ownership. Prior to the trust, perhaps that was not done.
Read the lease and find out the requirements under the lease for notification on change of ownership. The company, in their Division Order department may well just tell you what they need to amend their records.
Best
Buddy Cotten
Dennis Broadbrooks said:
First, thanks for taking time to answer my question Buddy, YOU ARE GOOD and you too Kitchen. The land and mineral rights are in Montana and are monies from past production. Do affidavits of heirships carry any water in a Montana Court? They were filed on this minerals and transferred by company, but monies from past production before creation of trust was never claimed from the court trust.