I recently learned that my father has inherited (new to us) mineral rights from my late grandmother’s brother. As his POA, I tackle the oil and gas paperwork.
All probates from him to my father are done and filed, and it’s just a matter of time before we get the specific details of his newly inherited mineral rights.
My question is: what are the best steps to take in sorting through and dealing with these new mineral rights? How do you determine any involved oil companies, and if anything is owed to us from past (or present) drilling, etc.?
In the past, when my mother passed away, I just took a passive approach of waiting for oil companies to contact us with what they owed; this time, I’m interested in a more active approach–if it’s practical/possible to do?
Joining NARO, the National Association of Royalty Owners is a great place to learn about active management of mineral rights. They have conventions, classes, webinars on important management topics. They have special classes on Mineral Management 101. Many of their experts are members of the forum. Introductory memberships are a great way to check them out for a year. The National Convention is in Houston Oct 16-19 this year. OK chapter is hosting a townhall in Tulsa on Oct 29. Texas has townhall meetings throughout the state. If you are im another state, they also have events.
The best way to get started is to sort all the minerals by state, county, township, range, section (or block, abstract and section in TX). The using the state websites, track down all wells and operators. Much of the information is free. NARO just gave a set of webinars on how to use the state websites to glean information to find your wells and missing royalties.
Have you also checked the unclaimed funds in the state where your parents live(d)? Funds may be there.
Thanks Martha! I’ll follow through with your suggestions–I have indeed already checked the unclaimed funds where my parents lived and found only some minor items (which I since cleared and received), so I should be good there.