Mineral right inheritance and use

I recently learned that my Fathers family reserved the rights to one section of land in Colorado [640 acres] My Father held a 1/10 share. How do we get it changed into our name ?

My Mother survived my Father her will was probated in Oregon, no mention of the rights in the will, only all propertys.
Is there a limit on how long the rights can remain inactive before loosing them ?
The rights are held by several members of the family, 1/2 are held by a branch I never had any contact with. What would be the best way to consolidate them to make it more attractive to a energy company ? Thru a internet search the land appears to be just outside the Raton basin east of highway I-25. Is this worth pursuing our would the attorneys get the biggest
piece of the pie ?

Thanks Bob Bum.

To my knowledge, Colorado was unsuccessful at getting the dormant minerals statute passed, so no worries there. Probate in Colorado is not painful or expensive. You can’t really consolidate the minerals, unless you want to buy and sell from each other. If you all agree to act as a group, and the lessee knows that, you will get the benefit of it being an entire section–which is how much land is needed to drill one horizontal well. It looks like the Raton Basin is pretty active in terms of gas wells. Unfortunately, it’s not part of the Niorbara, which is all the buzz in Colorado and Wyoming.

Thanks Lisa for the info.After I received the deeds I found that my Fathers share was a 1/32 making mine a 1/125. Well it was fun researching the family history anyway. This was my great grandfathers land under the 1862 & 1916 homestead act.

Lisa said:

To my knowledge, Colorado was unsuccessful at getting the dormant minerals statute passed, so no worries there. Probate in Colorado is not painful or expensive. You can’t really consolidate the minerals, unless you want to buy and sell from each other. If you all agree to act as a group, and the lessee knows that, you will get the benefit of it being an entire section–which is how much land is needed to drill one horizontal well. It looks like the Raton Basin is pretty active in terms of gas wells. Unfortunately, it’s not part of the Niorbara, which is all the buzz in Colorado and Wyoming.

Sorry it’s not bigger! But, that still amounts to you owning 5.12 acres. Obviously it won’t make you rich, but it might still be something worthwhile. If you feel like doing more resarch, go to the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission website, and resourceplay.com. With these you can find out where wells are located, and how much they are producing, and therefore perhaps what your 5 acres might produce.

Robert Bumgardner SR said:

Thanks Lisa for the info.After I received the deeds I found that my Fathers share was a 1/32 making mine a 1/125. Well it was fun researching the family history anyway. This was my great grandfathers land under the 1862 & 1916 homestead act.

Lisa said:
To my knowledge, Colorado was unsuccessful at getting the dormant minerals statute passed, so no worries there. Probate in Colorado is not painful or expensive. You can’t really consolidate the minerals, unless you want to buy and sell from each other. If you all agree to act as a group, and the lessee knows that, you will get the benefit of it being an entire section–which is how much land is needed to drill one horizontal well. It looks like the Raton Basin is pretty active in terms of gas wells. Unfortunately, it’s not part of the Niorbara, which is all the buzz in Colorado and Wyoming.