My mother’s parents owned mineral rights in Latimer and Kingfisher counties in Oklahoma. These rights were part my grandparents Trust which was converted into my parents’ Trust after their passing back in the early 90’s. My father passed away two years ago, and my mother and I are trying to determine the status of these mineral rights that are now part of my parents’ Trust.
We have copies of mineral deeds with the following details:
Latimer County Mineral Deed
80 Acres of Section #6 (S/2NW/4) -3N-21E
Kingfisher County Mineral Deed (Without Warranty)
Not sure what Without Warranty implies?
80 Acres of Section #31 (E/2 SW/4) – 19N-5W
I have been looking up details at the www.okcountyrecords.com website and have found copies of the mineral deeds for both Latimer and Kingfisher counties as well as an Oil & Gas Lease (where the Grantor is Sohio Petroleum Co) and Quit Claim Deed (where the Grantee is Philip Ozment) for Latimer County for a different township of S6 T3 R21 S2 NW.
Now that I have found out this information, what should my next steps should be? Here are my initial thoughts:
Determine if there is actual drilling going on at these sites? To date, my grandparents Trust nor my Parents’ Trust have not received any royalties or payments from any kind. Is there any monies owned to the Trust? How do I find this out?
Contact the County Clerk’s office to have the mineral deeds show updated ownership under my parents’ Trust. Not sure if copies of my grandparents’ death certificates are needed for this? Can someone help me as to who I should contact?
I have been told it is recommended to contact a Land Man who can help me with these matters. What specifically can a Landman help me with? Can someone give me a name of a landman to call and discuss this with?
Thank You greatly for any help with these complicated matters!
The county clerk will not prepare deeds for you. You will likely need an affidavit of the successor trustee along with deeds from trustee to the beneficiaries (assuming that this is a simple probate avoidance trust).
You can research the land by legal descriptions to see if there is recent production by searching “Public Pun Search” here: Oklahoma Taxpayer Access Point
If there is production, then you can contact the operators to update the ownership records to get into pay status.
This post is not legal, tax or investment advice. Reading or responding to this post does not create an attorney/client relationship.
Latimer Co. There is a dry hole in section 7 but a gas well in section 1 to the west, “6” is in the NW corner of the township. Not a very active area but appears to set in either a large breached anticline or a large syncline - I don’t have maps handy.
31-19N-5W Longfellow Energy drilled 31-O2Hi in 20117. No production reported.
Chisholm drilled Blacktail 19-05-31 1H in 2017. Production is still online.
Diversified Energy drilled Anderson 31-19-5 1H in 2017. Production is still online.
Contact both of the operators and have the original trust documents at hand. Ask the operators what you need to do to get into pay status. They will probably need the updated trust issues filed, copies of death certificates, etc. You will probably need to follow Richard’s advice on getting the title updated in both counties, but start with Kingfisher since there is production.
Also check www.missingmoney.com and see if there are any unclaimed funds from the old shalow field that is there. Most of those wells are now P&A, but something may have slipped through the cracks and is being held at the OK treasurer’s office. You may have to go back several generations with the names of the grandparents and then parents and the trust name.