after posting a question on here about activity, I went on the Panola county Texas site to see exactly what ownership I have. I’m very confused because I saw that my mother‘s name is still listed as an owner of quite a bit, but I am also listed as an owner of other spaces in Panola County. who do I work with to get a better understanding of all of this and figure out if there are things that I need to resolve? it’s also confusing. Because they are mineral rights I don’t really understand what the descriptions mean.
A landman can help you straighten things out. Have your probate documents available for him/her. The AAPL has a public directory to help you find one. May take several calls to find the right one.
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Thanks, Martha! I didn’t realize that we have a public directory.
Hi Ryan— are you a Landman?
Are you looking at the Panola CAD/ tax site or the deed records? If you are looking at the CAD, be sure to note whether some listings for your mother are unpaid taxes from prior years or related to the current year. If wells were only changed into your name in recent months (after oil companies sent in the royalty owner lists), then that change may not yet be reflected on the CAD site.
Hi. I’m honestly ignorant enough about this all that I don’t know the answer to your question. I went on the Panola county tax assessor site and on a website called “Texas file”. I posted the Texas file results (it’s a data sheet) in an earlier post. I don’t know what those represent.
I’d love to search the deeds but don’t know if I’m doing that and or don’t know how.
From what I just said, do you know what I’m looking at?
Here is a general explanation of what you are finding. The deed records contain the history of ownership of the land and minerals in the county. Ownership is tracked from person to person through time. None are deleted, and new ones are added all the time. Example, Grandfather A buys minerals in 1930 with deed from Owner X to Grandfather A. Grandfather A dies in 1980 and leaves to his two children, Son B and Daughter C. His will is probated and recorded to establish that Son C and Daughter C (your mother) each own 1/2 of the minerals. Daughter C dies in 2015 and leaves minerals to Granddaughter D (you). Daughter C’s will is probated and recorded to prove that Granddaughter D is the owner. All the earlier deeds are still in the records so that anyone trying to determine who owns the minerals can trace the history. This is done by a title company in tracing the ownership of a house before you buy it. You can find the deeds on TexasFile. The Tax Assessor site is concerned with who needs to pay property taxes, on either the surface or the producing minerals. Producing minerals are the oil and gas wells in which you are a mineral owner. If there are still taxes in your mother’s name, then it may be because no one paid the prior year(s) taxes or for current year because some wells have not been transferred from your mother to you in the oil company records. If back taxes are due, then you need to pay them to make sure that the minerals are not sold at a sheriff’s sale. Current year tax statements are being sent out by the county some time before end of the year. Look at the tax site and make sure your mailing address is correct.
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I’ve called a bunch of landmand offices but can’t get a hold of anyone.
@miss, that portion of texasfile is showing you data from the appraisal district.
Those are related to property tax records.
If you go back to texasfile and search the county records you may be
able to find the related deeds that will show that you own in abstract 17
of Panola County, TX. You can use the https://gis.rrc.texas.gov/gisviewer/
to see a map…you can search by well API number or by abstract.
@miss, you can check the current property taxes at https://www.panolacountytax.org/
It looks like Michelle and Melinda have equal interests in the newer wells.
Marylin is still shown as the owner on some older wells. Burk Royalty may need to be
contacted to update your ownership. Texasfile does show that you have a mineral deed in
the county records portion. I can see why the listing you found was confusing. Things look like
they are in pretty good order, but some of the other operators in that area with older wells may
need to be updated. It doesn’t happen automatically.