Looking for some guidance

North Dakota Mineral Rights Stark County, ND
1

I recently received an odd phone call from some woman who said she was with a Venture Capital company out of North Dakota. Her company was trying to buy back all the fractured shares of some mineral rights in Stark Co. and one of the small shares she had traced back to me.

She said that they wanted to offer me $750 for my 1/4th of 1% of this said mineral rights. Needless to say I was interested to find out some more information on this and requested some type of documentation to consider what she had offered. She told me that she didn't have any official document to provide and all she could do was write down what we spoke about on the phone. Below is what she sent me.

xxxx,

It was nice speaking with you on the phone last week.

Below is some documentation per your request.

The estate of Sophie XXXX and Duncan XXXX

has a small fractional interest of a mineral royalty. The interest

is 1/8th of 1%. The interests were divided into very small amounts

by a woman named XXXX in the early 1950's, most

probably to make it saleable or marketable to practically anyone.

Duncan and Sophie purchased this 1/8th of 1% from her.

It is the goal of Teredo to purchase as many of these small fractions

as possible with the intent to make it whole again, and thereby restore

it's marketable title.

I am increasing the amount to $800 because it would divide better

between 1/2 of the amount going your uncle, and 1/2 going to you and

your siblings.

This is the list of heirship on how it has passed.

Sophie XXXX Deceased Nov. 13, 1967

Duncan XXXX Deceased Jan. 19, 1954

Margaret XXXX Oct. 1,1950

Elma XXXX (niece of Sophie XXXX) deceased 1897-1976

Randolph XXXX (son of Elma) Deceased Sept. 13, 2010

I will call you in a few days. Hopefully this explains how it passed to you.

Sincerely,

XXXX

c/o Teredo Royalties, LLC

500 N. Roosevelt Ave. #88

Chandler, AZ. 85226

So what is bothering me about this is I have zero idea of what to request from her for specific information. I mean, wouldn't this company have some kind of Lot information regarding location and or some type of state or county numbering of the land that could be referenced for official use? This company is giving me bare bones information on this, other than they want to pay me for it. This woman keeps telling me there is nothing official to forward to me as the records are not digital and kept at the County Records building in Start County. This seems like a stretch in this day and age that someone interested in rounding up all these fractured shares can't make a digital copy of this information.

I'm a person that doesn't like to jump into anything unless I know what's really going on, and this is a situation that I have very little information to base a judgement on. Things aren't crystal clear, like her originally telling me it was a 1/4 share of 1%, then in her email it says it's an 1/8 of 1%.

So what I'm hoping for is that someone with some experience with this type of thing might be able to give me some advise or pointers on what questions to ask, and what kind of options someone like myself might have in this type of situation. Maybe I just keep the mineral rights and transfer the share into my name on my own, because maybe this could be worth more than what they are offering me?

2

Hello David,

I also have a fractured mineral interest in a tract my grandfather homesteaded on in Stark County, and I've been in the oil business for over 40 years.

There is no online database showing mineral interests by tract in Stark County. All the land & mineral information is in Dickinson at the Courthouse and has to be researched in person going through the records. Your offer is weird in that she doesn't provide the legal description of the lands in which you own minerals, however, maybe she knows the legals and isn't sure if you know what you own. Anyway, that business of trying to acquire fractured shares leading to a full share is just a sales pitch. Leases and purchases are drawn up every day on fractured shares and they are always in a $ per net acre owned figure. So, say you own 1/4 of 1% of 160 gross acres: that ownership is 0.40 net acres and if the offer is $800 per net acre, you have a low ball offer resulting in $320 net to you. Unless you need the money now, I would keep the ownership and lease it out for 3 years at the same price.

(EDITED - No soliciting in the forums. Honestly, the comment looked to be in jest, but we have to keep the forum clean or the solicitors come out of the woodwork)

Have a super day!

Jerry Anderson

3

David, the letter screams information at me.

1. I would presume that there is a well or wells. Landman and title work is not free and tracking hundreds of people so you can buy their fractional interest is not something one would do casually. This is also why they will not give a legal description. There are some cheap verticle wells in Starke county that have produced almost 2 million barrels of oil in the last 30 years.

2. You have a really small part of a whole evidently but the close group of you might have 20 to 40 acres to divvy up depending on how big the whole was when the 1% was taken from it.

3. I would gather up the family members and tell them not to sell until you are given the legal description of the property, townships ranges and sections. My families ownership was spread over about 11 sections and 15 to 20 sections is not unheard of. 1% of 5,000 acres is still worth having even if it split 3 ways. For all you know there are 10 wells on your undivided interest in the minerals and have been for 20-30 years or more. There is something there and that is why they don't want to give you the legal description.

I doubt you really need oil and gas advice. Just do whatever you normally would do when someone wants you to sign a blank deed of sale telling you they will fill in the particulars later.

4

David, I would not lease the interest, you could lease and receive a fraction of what may already be owed to you right now. People are not supposed to make unsolicited lease offers in the threads, does not stop them from doing so.

5

Jerome and rw, thank you both for your input. I know so little about this business and feel like what is being offered to me is suspect. Of course gathering useful information on my own from Seattle appears to not be an easy task. I'm used to being able to find information online and easily accessible, and that isn't the case with this. I'm not so sure how forward this company will be with me about the specifics when I ask for them. They may just walk away leaving me with more questions than answers. The last thing I want to do is make a trip to Stark County to physically look up and track down this information on my own but that's how this is all starting to look like.

Just out of couriosity, what would be the recommended/suggested next step if this company doesn't give me any further information on this?

6

David, you need to track down Duncan and Sophie's deed and their probates if any. For all we know at this point since numbers seem to malleable to your contact, it could be a deed for 5% or even 10%. The deed they would send you would probably have a clause that says you are selling all of your mineral rights in the county, possibly the whole state.

You could possibly play along with these people, tell them you are quite willing to sell and before sending you a deed they could get sloppy and let slip the legal description or it could be on the deed and check because it would look pretty sleazy to never say what they are attempting to buy. It could be on the stub of a check or draft or the description should be on the deed, just lead them on that far and change your mind. You can change your mind right up to the point you pop the deed in the mail, provided you haven't cashed their check.

7

rw, Once again, thank you for all your great insight and suggestions. I have not received any payment. The woman I spoke too seemed surprised that I was asking so many questions. I think they must get a lot of people that just want the quick money and don't care about the details. I'm not like that, I want to know exactly what's at stake. And when someone isn't forth coming with information like this it just makes me more weary of their intentions.

I'll update when I get more information from them.

8

Never sell your mineral rights.