What if we all just stopped signing the Memorandums? What would they do? It’s not in our best interest to keep signing them. Thoughts?
They would not pay the bonus.
The operators want to keep the lease terms confidential. Be sure and keep a copy of the actual lease in your files as you or your heirs are going to probably need it in the future.
then they would not get the lease
of course they want it confidential
Why is it not in your best interest to sign a Memorandum of OGL? What exactly do you think that changes on the acreage after you signed the lease?
I am not a fan of the Memorandum. I had a client who’s father had a lease and they only had the Memorandum which did not refer to the no-deductions clause. We only got a copy of the actual lease once we were in litigation.
Unless something in the agreement prohibits it, I would be tempted to create an affidavit that refers to the Memorandum, then attaches a true copy of the full lease and file it with the county records. Make sure nothing in your agreement prohibits this course of action going forward.
Notice: Informational only. No attorney-client relationship is formed by this post. I am an Oklahoma-licensed attorney, but this is not legal advice. Do not share confidential facts in this public space.
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In OK, Memorandums are fairly rare. Since they are fairly rare, I was lucky that I caught one that had a depth clause which was missed by a pooling respondent’s list. I answered the pooling and got a 1/4 pooling instead of them missing me and I would have been assigned 1/8th.