Ownership/rights we didn't know about

Ownership and Title
1

My family has been contacted by several entities this month about leasing mineral rights in Roger Mills county, Oklahoma (16N-25W). We weren’t aware of such mineral rights or ownership until these offers came. For what it’s worth, my great-x3 grandfather lived in Roger Mills county in the early 1900’s, so I am assuming he must have owned a bit, and this is related to that.

My questions right now are:

  1. How do we independently determine whether we do in fact have any interest, the acreage, and anything else pertinent?
  2. Is a title attorney who I need to contact? Or someone else? I have looked up a couple title attorneys online, but they seem to deal with businesses, not individuals.

Thank you for any advice!

2

At this point, I would do the following:

  1. Ask the leasing landman how much acreage they believe you own, and the last known heir listed in the county clerk’s records in your tract.
  2. You don’t need an attorney at this point. A reputable landman can check title and provide you the information. They are less expensive than an attorney.
  3. title lawyers will also work for individuals. But I don’t think you need one at this point.
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3

You are in luck, Roger Mills County has land records online back to 1902 or thereabouts. You can search by your ancestor’s name within that legal description.
Roger Mills County | OKCountyRecords.com | County Clerk Public Land Records for Oklahoma

This post is not legal, tax or investment advice. Reading or responding to this post does not create an attorney/client relationship.

4

Totally agree with Tim. Also, you can search public records online for pertinent deeds. Go to: Roger Mills County | OKCountyRecords.com | County Clerk Public Land Records for Oklahoma and search for GGGGrandfather’s name (or other heir name). You should see where he purchased and possibly sold interest. Congrats and good luck!

5

Activity-wise, Crawley Petroleum and Upland have four new multi-section horizontal wells permitted in 16N-24W. One permit is in 16N-25N by Douglas Fairbanks. Two rigs are currently working in 17N-24W

You can do a quick title search, but the leasing company will actually do that in order to complete their lease, so don’t waste too much effort there. If it were me, I would concentrate on getting a good oil and gas attorney to review any draft leases and get you the best deal on the terms and clauses of the lease. The draft leases are not usually in the mineral owner’s favor and need substantial edits. There are about 15-20 very important clauses that can affect your royalties for decades, so you want them to be as advantageous as possible. Many experienced mineral owners prefer a higher royalty choice. The bonus amounts are not as important in the bigger scheme of larger long term royalties.

You do not have to lease with the operator. Third party working interest owners are often more flexible in their leasing negotiations because they want a part of the well. You can also wait for force pooling which has its own advantages.

You may find this OK owners booklet useful for getting started in your knowledge building.
0_Royalty-Owners-Booklet-112020.pdf (6.8 MB)

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