Hello, I just recently received an offer to purchase my mineral rights from Southwest Energy Partners for $600/ acre. I would like assistance in determining if probate documents have ever been filed, what the value of the mineral rights are, if it is possible to find someone to lease them and if any royalties have ever been paid. Unfortunately if there have been any royalties paid, I have never received them as I have only just now found out about this. Please forgive my ignorance and any assistance is appreciated. Thank you.
First of all, what state and county are you asking about?
Welcome!
Any time I get an offer out of the blue, I wonder why. Usually, they know something that I don’t know and they want to make a profit off of me. They are usually hunting for past royalties or future royalties and hope I do not know about them.
First thing I would do is ask where they got your name and who they think you inherited from. Then I would hunt on the unclaimed funds site of the state of mineral ownership, state of the decedent and Delaware to see if that name is listed.
If this is in Lincoln Co, OK, there is a horizontal well pending and they want your piece of it. Do you know how to use the Oklahoma Corporation Commission website? You may want to look on the OCC case records and look up case 201806310 and see if you recognize anyone on the respondents list. Use this link and put that case number in the case number box.
http://imaging.occeweb.com/imaging/OAP.aspx
That section was pooled in late 2018. They are offering about four times the royalty of $150/ac at 3/16ths. If your relative did not answer the pooling order, they were assigned the 1/8th royalty at $225, so there may be money waiting for the heirs. Case 201806311
Then look in the Lincoln County courthouse online records and see if any probate has been filed.
Do not let anyone rush you, Find out what you own first.
Martha, Thank you so much for the quick reply. This property is in Lincoln County, OK. I searched Lincoln county records and found 3 leases in the past. It looks like there was no bonus and I have never seen any royalties. I am the beneficiary of a trust and this is the first time I have seen any of this. I also found the Mineral Deed filed but is that the same as probate? Looking at that case number, I see my grandfather’s name who is deceased, which makes me believe that probate documents where never filed correctly.
You will have to do a bit of probate work and make sure you everything properly accounted for. No, the deed is not the same as probate. Does the deed have the trust name on it or your grandfather’s. If his, then you need some legal help. There are several listed in the Directory at the top.
Thank you again. That case number was what I needed to make some progress on this. You were right, there is a well and it is producing. The deed has the trust on it I think.
You can search Lincoln County cases here: https://www1.odcr.com/ Lincoln County records back to 1993 here: Lincoln County | OKCountyRecords.com | County Clerk Public Land Records for Oklahoma Also:
Oklahoma Unclaimed Property Search
Mineral Interest Escrow Account Search
If the properties were not deeded into a trust, then probate is probably needed.