I intend to file an Oklahoma Small Claims Lawsuit for the max $10,000 unless an attorney takes on & involves nothing more than a payee address change that won’t get proceeded. Payor wants the address change document recorded! Haha. Go figure. But I’ve warned them.
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Not sure what your situation is so will answer generically.
Operators regularly want any change of address recorded in the county courthouse where the minerals are located. Also copies of any deeds or title documents. That is the legal repository for the state. Then you inform the operator’s Division Order department of the change of address-send a certified letter return receipt with a copy of your address change. Can normally take several months to get all the parts correctly done. Are you sure you want to spend attorney fees to accomplish a simple thing?
I worked 41 years as a D/O Analyst, never heard of an address change document being recorded, but why wouldn’t they place a notary block on the document? A recorded document must be notarized. Address changes are never notarized.
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Not sure which county you are talking about. Don’t think the address change has to be notarized, but the rules might have changed by county. We have always done it with a notary signature just to make sure. The recorder of deeds can answer that question.
If you are talking about a particular operator, then ask their division order department why they need it notarized. Cheaper to do what they want and file at the county for a few dollars than go through a lawsuit.
As you know, the DO analyst just wants to make sure that they are paying the right mineral owners the right amount of money. Some operators are very picky about what information they require.
Another interesting requirement is payor will ONLY change the address to an address matching a secondary identification document which must be provided with the change of address document fully recorded. So a rich payee wanting checks to go c/o his accountant’s office address isn’t possible or an elderly payee who wants a daughter handling her checks/affairs isn’t possible! I’m fighting that requirement also. Payee can insert any new address they want. A secondary ID card I don’t have a problem providing but the matching address requirement is insane too! I am fighting myself. I need no attorney. I’ve already beaten AT&T & UPS this year; a small fry operator should be a slam dunk.
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While I don’t agree with recording address change documents under any circumstances, at least in Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Louisiana, a company who DOES want recorded makes their case way better with payee by placing the notary block info at the bottom of their address change forms. I believe not having the notary showing the recording requirement is not enforceable - payee can’t be expected to add the notary info. So chances of forcing recording is tougher with no notary block on the form. Randomly discussing the recordings for address changes with all my Division/Operations friends today in Texas & Oklahoma, nobody has ever heard of requiring that. Getting conveyances & estate documents recorded in each affected county is tough enough; I can’t even imagine wanting recordings of all address changes in every county wells are owned. I’ve processed thousands of address changes in my career. I was processing 20 name/address changes daily the last 6 months of my career cleaning up suspense & contacting payees at new addresses I found! I released half of all suspense dollars in 2 years.
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The county clerk will not accept a notice of change of address for filing unless it is notarized and the appropriate fee is provided.
This post is not legal, tax or investment advice. Reading or responding to this post does not create an attorney/client relationship.
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The purpose of the notary is to verify that the person whose signature is on the document is actually that person. If there is no verification, I could claim to be you and send in a change of address and start receiving your checks. I’m sure you don’t want that to happen to you.
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John, you may be dealing with part of our new era of Owner Relations Contractors. You have a unique situation that I have not seen in 40+ years as a mineral owner and landman. First, Winblad nails it: any document filed by you has to be notarized to be accepted by the County Clerk’s Office. I have advised clients in the past to file an Affidavit of Address in cases that it is beneficial to the client. With all this said, was there anything that differentiated this address change request on your part other than just the address?
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