Janice,
I have them send me a lease, I look it over and add my addendum's, sent it to my attorney to be sure I didn't miss anything. Then I sign it and make a copy and mark the lease as a copy. I keep the original till they have 30 days to check everything out. Once they send the check, I sent them the original lease or the bank collection dept release the original lease when they receive payment. Remember, you can't file anything that is marked a copy, so until you get your money, they only have the fact that you will lease. But, don't go out and spent the money before you get it as I have had oil companies back out after they got the copy with the addendum.
Janice, you can always tell them sorry, the deal can't be done their way.
Do you consider yourself ahead, doing it their way?
You need to pay a lawyer to send a demand letter on his letterhead for a speedy resolution, so it has, cost you money. Janice, you have been damaged because you have to go out of pocket for a lawyer for a speedy resolution and if you receive any offers that may actually Pay you, but you can't accept because someone who did not pay you holds your executed lease, you have been further Damaged.
Just tell them NO to sending a lease and you assuming all risk, and that the first company with an acceptable offer who will do it your way will get your lease. Janice, you have nothing to lose saying that, you have Already "Been Taken to the Cleaners".
How? Those companies have a FREE OPTION on your minerals, which may be what they were after all along. If they can profit from flipping your lease to someone else..."Having Never Risked a Dime of Their Money", they have won.
You may have legal complications if you try to lease to someone else with the deadbeats holding what is to all appearances a valid lease. I would wager you are feeling quite a bit of discomfort, for no gain at all? Was it worth it?
I don't want to be mean but I have been exactly where you are now and if you don't realize exactly where you are at, you will be there in that same place for years. I don't want you to be stuck in that limbo place. I have heard from people who were exactly where you are until the primary term of the lease ran out. If you don't get a lawyer, the lessee is Free to ignore your complaints as Nothing will happen to them. If you do get a lawyer? All they will have to do is return your lease. Even if they recorded your lease, the most they would have to do is record a release of lease as it's probably not worth suing them for the bonus alone. Good luck.
Thank you. This is all good advice. Wish I had it 4 months ago!
I will do this next time, but when I thought about hiring an attorney, he wanted about a $1500 retainer fee which would have been almost more than the bonus check!
Carol Dakan -
I suggest you put together a chronological set of your communications and documents from when the Landman first contacted you through today (don't forget the assignment of your lease to a third party) and contact the following Attorneys with regard to what they would charge to send a Letter of Demand (I call them Love Notes) to the various parties involved, demanding either payment in full or the original, unrecorded lease returned.
Others here on The Forum may have additional Attorneys they might suggest, but these are the three I recommend:
G. Wade Caldwell
Barton, East & Caldwell
700 N. St. Mary's Street
Suite 1825
San Antonio, TX 78205-3545
gcaldwell@beclaw.com
210.228.3617 (o) direct
210.225.1655 (o) main
210.225.8999 (f)
gcaldwell@beclaw.com
www.beclaw.com
-
Michael D. Jones
Jones Gill LLP
6363 Woodway, Suite 1100
Houston, Texas 77057-1796
713-652-4068
Board Certified~Civil Trial Law;
Oil, Gas & Mineral Law
Texas Board of Legal Specialization
Mjones@jonesgill.com
www.jonesgill.com
-
Loren R. (Larry) Nauss
L.R. Nauss & Associates
Attorneys at Law
P.O. Box 7494
The Woodlands, Texas 77387
(281) 984-0204 office
(281) 796-7057 mobile
lrnauss@wt.net
I can't imagine any of them charging you $1500 for what will probably be nothing more than a single Letter of Demand. If it goes any further than that, you can probably demand that your legal fees be reimbursed.
Either way, I think you should get away from that bunch.
I'll keep these name, but my mineral rights are in Oklahoma, not Texas. Wouldn't I need an Oklahoma attorney?
Those pesky little details...
Maybe not for a Demand Letter, but most definitely if you end up in court. Wade's or Michael's firms might have an Attorney or two licensed to practice in Oklahoma.
Who are Wade and Michael?
Attorneys.
Look for my response to Carol Dakan in this message string from about 2 hours ago.
Who's names were you going to keep?
I just talked to Northeast Energy in West Virginia. He said it was normal for oil companies to put into the Order of Payment that they would pay within 120 days. I am sorry to admit that I missed that sentence on the sheet of paper that was separate from the lease. But, he said he would look into the process and see if payment could be made earlier. I will Not make this mistake again. Thank you Mr. Tooke III.
Good for you! You're welcome.
Carol, worse yet is that is 120 "Banking Days" and doesn't count weekends and holidays. !20 banking days is in excess of 6 calendar months.
There has been a running discussion about that for years now: Most banks are open on Saturdays. I have been using "Calendar Days" in my letters and agreements for years.
Do you think 120 days is normal? It is not in Tx or Ok.
10, 15, perhaps 20 days would be considered "normal".
30 days indicates to me that they are trying to "flip" the lease for a profit before they have to pay for it. 120 days is outrageous.
Mr. Tooke, if it's not stated calendar days, they can claim it's banking days and even if your bank is open on Saturday? They can claim that their bank is Not. What would you do, sue them? The draft/order for payment would expire before you got anywhere with that and it would be a moot point. The fact that they tendered a 120 day instrument in the first place, leads me to believe they are prepared to take full advantage of a person at every opportunity.