Wondering if anyone can help me or offer some advice. My grandfather left his share of mineral rights to my grandmother, my mother and my siblings when he died. We were all juveniles at the time( late 1980s.) Since then all of our relatives (mother, father, grandmother) have passed away and only the four siblings are still alive.
The rights were leased from us a couple of times many years ago but the last contact we had with anyone was when my mother was still alive and everything was sent to her at her address. It was in 2010 and a company wanted to lease our rights for a very small amount so we turned them down. They basically said they could do it without our permission anyway and we have never heard anything since. All contact from every company was always through my grandfather's nephew (now deceased) to my mother (now deceased) and I don't know that any of my or my sibling's addresses or contacts is known.
So can they drill without leasing from us? Can we find out if any activity is taking place? How do we make sure that our shares are left to our children when we die or how can we sell what we have? Furthermore, how do we update the information to show that our relatives are deceased etc? We are in Florida but the rights are in Mississippi. The description is Township 10 North-Range 12 West Section 17: S/2NW/4NW/4&N/2SW/4NW/4 Jasper County, MS
We do not own the surface land, only the mineral rights.
Shar,
I grew up in Jones County just to the South. I'm quite familiar with activity over the years in Jasper County. Denbury is far and away the primary Operator in the area.
Yes, drilling can take place without leasing a particular party. Depending on the size of one's acreage, oil companies may or may not work very 'hard' at finding the parties should they not prove readily available. Feel free to friend me if you'd like.
How do I friend you? Lol is there anything my family can do if drilling is taking place?