94 year old Illinois resident with failing health. There’s a distant relative that seems to be interested in the rights. There are 6 or 7 properties, located in two counties, Logan and Hughes. We thought that Transfer on Death documents might be the quickest and easiest. I don’t think the interested family member wants to pay a lawyer. None of the properties are producing, or producing much. If this family member doesn’t take them, we aren’t going to pursue probate on them. I think that the rights will revert to the Surface land owner after a period of time?
Not in Oklahoma. The property rights would just stay in the name of the deceased relative, but would be owned by the heirs. But until a probate is done, it won’t be clear title.
I would suggest that the resident sell the interests, rather than have them just go stale. Or if one of the relatives is interested in them, then let him/her pay the attorney to get it done correctly.
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Listen to Tim Dowd, the best advice you’ll get on this forum
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Alternatively, owner can file a gift deed in each county to immediately transfer the minerals to the relative. You need to make sure it complies with OK requirements, including formatting the document. It seems a little surprising that no one in the family wants the minerals. I would think the surface owner would love to get some minerals, if you know who it is.
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one option would be to sell the mineral interests using a broker like Freedom Minerals. This way you have the money to do whatever you need. We’ve used Freedom minerals for leasing with non operators before and they were great to work with. Ask for Tom. He’s the director there.
The other option would be to let the relative pay for attorney fees to transfer the interests or let the interests go through probate and go wherever they end up.
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A few hundred dollars can save a few thousand if not done correctly.
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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Are you, or do you know, an appraiser who can give me a Caddo Co. comparable sale from 2019-2020?
There are two valuation companies listed in the directory above. Or find a competent landman to check the Caddo County records for the documentary stamps shown.
If you want to hold on to the property, the quickest and easiest way is for you to file a deed from yourself to yourself creating a life estate, with whatever heir you want the property to go to as the remainderman (the person that gets the minerals). They will have to file an affidavit of death upon your passing to claim the property. Or, you could just sell them the minerals now for a couple hundred dollars or whatever you all deem to be a fair offer, which is what I would do.
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