Hello - for a couple of years we’ve been having a Landman want to buy about a half acre property we own and this year they seem to be willing to pay the legal part because we can’t find the information from my dad’s will, I was just wondering if anybody knows if something major is happening out there and why we have a couple of different Landman reaching out to us.
Thank you.
Minerals are real property and the value depends on the number of net mineral acres, location and well activity. Do not sell until you determine exactly what you own and what it is worth. Winkler is a very active county and there are lots of wells. Landmen are reaching out because it is valuable and there is money to be made. If there are producing wells which include your minerals, then there will be accumulated royalties held in suspense by the oil company. Check the unclaimed funds in Texas and in the state where your father or grandfather lived to see if any royalties are being held there. Post the legal description (section, block, survey) in Winkler County and someone can help you see activity in the area. You can search for any deeds recorded in Winkler County records in the name of your father, mother or grandparents on line through sites such as TexasFile. Was your father’s will probated in Texas or another state? You can file a copy of the probate in Winkler County to establish title. If it was not probated, then the minerals will go to his heirs as set forth in the Texas statutes and you can establish this by affidavit or other legal filing.
Thank you! We are in CT but I will do research, they are pushing us to sign the contract this week for the amount they offered.
The property is PSL survey section 28 and 39 block 27 - .56889 net acreage
Just my opinion, but unless you are in DIRE need of money, don’t let this group try to force you into signing.
Apache operates 5 Chuckwagon horizontal wells in Section 39 and 7 Stagecoach wells in Section 28. Section 28 - Notices were sent out to lost owners with last names of Jost, Helm, Kuntsler, Eiler and Seaton at last known addresses and several were returned. Section 39 has longer list with same names, as well as Tucker, Hughes, McInnis, Everyley, Curless-Welch, Herrell and Stafford. These have been operating for a long time and your minerals will have royalties due. So the buyer may be pressuring you to sign before you know the facts. Buyer will be paying you with your own money. Contact Apache Owner Relations about your minerals. But you need to first find the deed(s) into your father or farther back in the family, depending on how many generations have not cleared up title. That will be helpful to sent to Apache. Here are links to service lists. https://webapps.rrc.texas.gov/dpimages/img/4700000-4799999//PR0004763726_0001.pdf
Thank you. The air name would either be under Borders or Anderson. Unfortunately my dad put it into a trust at some point and it’s mentioned in his will but nobody can find any paperwork that goes with it, and we have no idea what Lawyer he would’ve used.
We would have to hire a lawyer in Texas to dig through all of this, but the Landman this time around said that they would be willing to take on the cost after we sign the contract, he also told me that he couldn’t tell if there was any royalties being paid or if they’re being held somewhere.
I really appreciate all your information and will make some calls tomorrow.
An update. I just found out that we do not own the land but we own the mineral rights and I did check a website where they were trying to pay my mom money, not a lot but it was a couple oil companies,it looks like in the last payment was in 2020.
You can easily check the Winkler county clerk’s office records online. I found a mineral deed from grantor “Borders Rebecca Jo” to a buyer which included Block 27 Sections 28 & 39 as well minerals in other counties. Does the contract you have indicated you are being pushed to sign this week also include a phrase which would grant/sell ALL of your other mineral and royalty holdings in Texas? What if you also own minerals in Pecos and Lipscomb counties Texas as well as Randolph county, Illinois? Also, if you do the research, you may find information which would allow you to convince an oil company or companies to release your suspended funds and get you in pay on new wells. If multiple horizontal wells are being drilled on your acreage, it is a big deal even though you only own a half of an acre. I would also encourage you to heed what RockMan and TennisDaze have advised. At the top of this website’s page, click on “Directories” and choose “Mineral Services” from drop down tab. Scroll to the bottom of the opened page and there are three mineral buyers listed. You might ask if they would be interested.
Minerals are frequently severed from the surface in Texas, as well as in other states. The question is the name in which title is vested. If the minerals were in the name of your father and no deeds were filed transferring the minerals into a trust, then you only deal with clearing title out of your father’s name. Were the minerals assigned to your mother by deed in Winkler County? In that case the title needs to be transferred out of her name. In the past, some oil companies paid royalties to heirs without the proper transfer of title and that later creates headaches for the heirs. Once you search the deed records (from grandparent or other into father and perhaps from father to mother or trust or perhaps still in father’s name), then you and other siblings can go to Apache and get in pay. You can also sell, but be sure that the sales price includes any royalties held in suspense.
Apache helped us clear up some title issues a few months ago and got us into pay status on the Chuckwagon wells. I would not sell as we have collected royalties over the past few decades from the old vertical wells in this area and now the horizontal wells are paying good. I addition there are companies wanting to lease deep rights to reach other formations. So lots of opportunity for the mineral owner!
Thank you to everyone who replied, I did look in the Winkler County courthouse records online and did find my mom’s information, Marion Anderson and I also found royalties that are being held, I’m not sure we’ll be able to get those released because some of the information they’re asking for we no longer have such as a Drivers License since she passed away in 2001 and my dad passed away in 2017.
we have been offered 11k for our mineral rights, they want us to sign by Monday otherwise they offer goes away or perhaps back down to the original offer of 10.5k.
That kind of pressure is a red flag. A lot of lease offers are posed like that and the sophisticated mineral owner does not jump. You are talking about the royalties that has escheated to the state. Do you know how much money held in suspense by Apache for the current wells? Undoubtedly the purchaser will also demand that you cooperate with their collecting all the funds for themselves.
So Monday is the deadline to sell…or maybe it isn’t. Sounds stressful. Who makes good decisions under stress? Do you fell you have enough details to make an informed decision? If a Driver’s License is required even though some never have one, how did Marion Borders Anderson lease her Sec 39 interest in 1998 using a SS#?
Did you consider contacting the other mineral buyers as I suggested? Does the contract presented to you say anything conveying/selling ALL of your mineral and royalty interests in Texas to the grantee? If you sell and learn that had you held you would have realized >$20k [incl. release of suspended funds] twelve to eighteen months after the hz wells begin producing, will you be alright wit that?
So Monday is the deadline to sell…or maybe it isn’t. Sounds stressful. Who makes good decisions under stress? Do you feel you have enough details to make an informed decision? If a Driver’s License is required even though some never have one, how did Marion Borders Anderson lease her Sec 39 interest in 1998 using a SS#?
Did you consider contacting the other mineral buyers as I suggested? Does the contract presented to you say anything conveying/selling ALL of your mineral and royalty interests in Texas to the grantee? If you sell and learn that had you held you would have realized >$20k [incl. release of suspended funds] twelve to eighteen months after the hz wells begin producing, will you be alright wit that?