My Mother in Law who lived in Washington State and past away there, left all her assets including her mineral rights in North Dakota to the trust. She died in 2006 and the trust, whom my wife is the Trustee, still has the mineral rights. We've been told by an attorney that it will cost about 2500.00 to get it recorded right in North Dakota since it has been so long ago that she died. It cost 0$ out here because she all ready had it into the trust when she past away and was very easy for my wife to execute the trust. Does this seem like a lot of money just to file some papers in North Dakota so that the Trust will receive offers and bonus payments and Royalties for her clearly established mineral rights?
Are there other ways of doing this easier? One would hope that keeping bonuses for the estate would be easier than paying Attorney's 10-14% fees just to record her Death Certificate!
I would appreciate any insight into this situation and would also ask if it's plausable for the Oil Companies to do their research for the rights and pay for the recording themselves if they want the mineral rights.