I am new to all of this and was wondering about my deceased grandfather’s mineral rights. How can I get them put in my name or my mother’s name so something can be done with them. My mom was in charge of his estates when he died and he did not mention anything about the mineral rights in his will or trust. She does have other siblings but she has paid the taxes on them for the last 12 years and we do not feel they should have anything to do with it.
Andrew, If your grandfather failed to transfer the minerals to his trust, you’ll have to do a probate to make the title to the minerals marketable. If there’s been a probate – and your mention of a will makes me thing there was – there should be a clause in the will that says, basically, all property not specifically mentioned goes to X. It might be that X is the trust. If that’s the case, then the minerals were put in the trust, even if not mentioned, and the title to them (probably) passed pursuant to the terms of the trust, at least for the state in which the probate was done. If the minerals are in a different state than the state in which the probate was done, you’ll probably have to do an ancillary probate in the state in which the minerals lie. That is a pretty simple procedure in most states. (And, depending on the size of the estate, the state the minerals are in, the value of the minerals and other factors, there could well be some state and/or federal estate tax issues that I won’t address, other than to say: See your lawyer about this.)
As to the ownership by your mom’s siblings – I’m afraid that if the will/trust passed an interest to them, your mom can’t defeat their ownership by the payment of mineral taxes. She no doubt has a claim for reimbursement against her co-tenant siblings (I assume they are co-tenants), but it is highly unlikely that the payment of mineral taxes would amount to adverse possession against a co-tenant, even if the 12 years is, in the applicable state, a sufficiently long period for adverse possession (and it probably isn’t).
There are possibly some other issues here, but I just can’t say more without more info. And understand that I am licensed in Oklahoma, so my advice could be off base as to other states. This is just an attempt to give you a basic background on the issues, not to provide legal advice on which you should rely. So, again, my advice to you is: See your attorney.
Brian Stanley VP & General Counsel The Hefner Company, Inc. Oklahoma City, OK
That was a very good answer, we are going through a similiar thing with my mother inlaw. She passed away in March of this year and left no will. This action has been going on since March trying to get my father inlaw’s name on the mineral rights. From the looks of it, she receives money from OK, TX, and NM, and they are nothing a like when it comes to transferring the rights. Two of the states have continued to send checks in the trust of her name, but TX is a much different story and we’re still working on that one.
Brian Stanley said:
Andrew,
If your grandfather failed to transfer the minerals to his trust, you’ll have to do a probate to make the title to the minerals marketable. If there’s been a probate – and your mention of a will makes me thing there was – there should be a clause in the will that says, basically, all property not specifically mentioned goes to X. It might be that X is the trust. If that’s the case, then the minerals were put in the trust, even if not mentioned, and the title to them (probably) passed pursuant to the terms of the trust, at least for the state in which the probate was done. If the minerals are in a different state than the state in which the probate was done, you’ll probably have to do an ancillary probate in the state in which the minerals lie. That is a pretty simple procedure in most states. (And, depending on the size of the estate, the state the minerals are in, the value of the minerals and other factors, there could well be some state and/or federal estate tax issues that I won’t address, other than to say: See your lawyer about this.)
As to the ownership by your mom’s siblings – I’m afraid that if the will/trust passed an interest to them, your mom can’t defeat their ownership by the payment of mineral taxes. She no doubt has a claim for reimbursement against her co-tenant siblings (I assume they are co-tenants), but it is highly unlikely that the payment of mineral taxes would amount to adverse possession against a co-tenant, even if the 12 years is, in the applicable state, a sufficiently long period for adverse possession (and it probably isn’t).
There are possibly some other issues here, but I just can’t say more without more info. And understand that I am licensed in Oklahoma, so my advice could be off base as to other states. This is just an attempt to give you a basic background on the issues, not to provide legal advice on which you should rely. So, again, my advice to you is: See your attorney.
Brian Stanley
VP & General Counsel
The Hefner Company, Inc.
Oklahoma City, OK
Thank you for the insight. That’s what I was wondering, if I just needed to hire an attorney to go over all the paperwork. It seems like a lot to do but it will hopefully pay off. There are 320 acres of rights in NW Colorado.
I’m not sure what it is for Colorado but I’m sure it will not be easy. I live in Colorado so maybe it is different that the states I have to deal with.
Andrew Hamilton said:
Thank you for the insight. That’s what I was wondering, if I just needed to hire an attorney to go over all the paperwork. It seems like a lot to do but it will hopefully pay off. There are 320 acres of rights in NW Colorado.
Colorado probate is known for being easy.
Randy Otis said:
I’m not sure what it is for Colorado but I’m sure it will not be easy. I live in Colorado so maybe it is different that the states I have to deal with.
Andrew Hamilton said:Thank you for the insight. That’s what I was wondering, if I just needed to hire an attorney to go over all the paperwork. It seems like a lot to do but it will hopefully pay off. There are 320 acres of rights in NW Colorado.
I have this issue also. Did you get this resolved? Elaine
Elaine,
I have not totally resolved this issue. It turns out that in my case,the rights MUST be didvded between my aunts and uncles because that's how my grandfather willed it. There are 6 of them so as you can imagine it is somewhat of a mess right now. They all have to have their portion put into their name before anything can move forward. Rosanna Slingerland is a member of this site who has been a huge help to me, you should look her up if you need advice.
Andrew Hamilton
Andrew Hamilton said:
Elaine,
I have not totally resolved this issue. It turns out that in my case,the rights MUST be didvded between my aunts and uncles because that's how my grandfather willed it. There are 6 of them so as you can imagine it is somewhat of a mess right now. They all have to have their portion put into their name before anything can move forward. Rosanna Slingerland is a member of this site who has been a huge help to me, you should look her up if you need advice.
Andrew Hamilton
Andrew, We are in the same situation , my grandfather left it to his wife my grandmother, she passed and left it to her 5 children, only two of them are still alive. Each of the deceased have children and it needs to be split with all of them. I will look up Rosanna, thanks for the tip. Elaine
Elaine Coons said:
Andrew Hamilton said:
Elaine,
I have not totally resolved this issue. It turns out that in my case,the rights MUST be didvded between my aunts and uncles because that's how my grandfather willed it. There are 6 of them so as you can imagine it is somewhat of a mess right now. They all have to have their portion put into their name before anything can move forward. Rosanna Slingerland is a member of this site who has been a huge help to me, you should look her up if you need advice.
Andrew Hamilton