I am the operator of a marginal well in OK and have the opportunity to pick up a really small royalty interest in the well. The interest is held in an estate where the decedent lived in the state of Washington. A letters of testamentary, will, death cert. etc, were processed in Washington. In order for them to sell their mineral rights in Oklahoma, what needs to be filed of record in the mineral county prior to me being able to do a mineral deed with the estate representative?
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Hi, I am relatively new to the mineral forum myself so I’m not sure if this question was to me personally as it was sent to my email. If I can help you in any way I will try. I have recently been bombarded through email and my home with purchase offers etc.. I don’t have much of an online presence other than this site as I am a person too busy to try to make time for FB and any other social media without friends thinking I am ignoring them 
if I can help or I am in anyway associated with this purchase please don’t hesitate to email me back.
Celia Fritch
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For marketable title, one needs to have a probate done in the State of Oklahoma. Some operators will pay based on an affidavit of heirship or foreign estate proceedings. Now, if you’re the one paying out the proceeds, you can buy it and just pay yourself. In other words, it wouldn’t have marketable title, but you would buy it based on an acceptable risk.
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The forum sends notifications of posts that might pertain to you,. Purchase offers are usually an indication that activity is pending. If you have a question, it is best to post it in the state and county where you have minerals. Then local folks can answer about leasing, permits, etc.
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Thank you. If possible might you have a recommendation on what the correct verbiage would be?
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The minerals are in a 2600 acre unit of marginal wells with decades of flat production remaining. If I had them do an affidavit for the estate, would that be a big obstacle many years from now if I wanted to sell?
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Verbiage is best left to attorneys. I am a geologist so can help with activity. Make sure you don’t have pending horizontals before jumping into a sale.
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I think I am more confused than before I entered this site after reading some of the posts. My leases and ownership were left pretty clear but I am basically looking for all the deeds to my mineral rights. My family owned quite a bit of the land but sold all but the minerals. Is there a cut and dry way of finding someone or some way (with my interest in mind) to help me obtain the deeds that I am aware of by way of my past leases and ones I may not be aware of?
The deeds will have been filed in the county records where the minerals are located. Many counties are on-line, either through the county website or through various services. You can search the records for your name and pay to download, generally around $1 per page. Your records should have a legal description including the county and state. You can do this yourself or a landman can help you with this search. Make a list of the various tracts in each county and state. Then you can match them to the deeds and see if the deeds include tracts which are not on your leases or other documents. If you post the various counties and states, someone can direct you to a site to use to search.
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It would probably depend on the size and nature of what you’re selling. If you’re selling a sizeable mineral interest in a producing unit, or in an area that just got hot, the buyer might require a probate. If the interest is some small orri that is part of much larger interest/unit, probably not a major concern.