Back in May, my family was contacted by a contracted landman for Antero, regarding inherited mineral rights involving 3 wells in the Green District of Wetzel County.
5 plots had been owned by my great uncle, who had no children, and the rights were passed down to his siblings and their children. There was much confusion about who was related to who, and it was an involved process for the landman, but everything has been finalized via several Affidavits of Heirship which were signed and sent to the landman to then be sent to Antero for royalty payments, which was handled in August.
The wells have all been in production since 2021/2022 and we are not the only rights holders. I know that our portion of the royalties are in a suspended account. However, it is now December and we’ve yet to be contacted by Antero at all.
My question is, does anyone have a general timeframe on how long this process is supposed to take once all of the heirship information is sent to Antero? I know it’s a large company and they have a lot going on, because I’ve been employed as a contractor for them for nearly a decade now. I just would have imagined that we would have heard something from them over the course of the last 4 months, especially on wells with suspended accounts.
@MT1985 I would suggest reaching out to Antero’s Owner Relations Department to inquire about the funds held in suspense. You can either send them an email or visit Antero’s website to fill out the contact information under Owner Relations. This should help you get the information you need.
Is this standard procedure now to ask for an affidavit of heirship? Isn’t this a responsibility of the land-man to do research at the courthouse and find what the record is in regard to the ownership?
You’re talking apples and oranges. The landman will research the records. But if the land records show the mineral interest is owned by John Smith and JOhn Smith is alive, then he would contact John.
But if John has died, and nothing is in the courthouse to reflect that, the landman needs somebody swearing under oath that Mr. Smith was or was not married, and had x number of kids. The research at the courthouse wouldn’t disclose that unless an estate proceeding had been done.
Yeah, it has to be completed if the current heirship that was already established is inaccurate, as ours was.
My great uncle had no children so it was all passed to his siblings, and their children if his siblings were deceased, as many of his were. But there were people that had been left off of the original affidavit, so they needed an updated one. Until those are filed, the landman can’t do much of anything if everything is going to be accurate. We’d have never known anything about it had he not reached out to us about it in the first place. We knew most of the people on the affidavit, but never had any idea that there was any property or mineral rights to property in Wetzel County.
This has been a long process for everyone, because it’s been ongoing since 2018/2019 and some of the others had already sold their rights because it has taken so long.
When I was first contacted by the Antero landman, out of the blue……he asked me for my name and if I know of any mineral rights I had in my name in Wetzel and Tyler county that I might have. I told him that my mom had some, but that she passed in 2021 and they were NOT mentioned in the will. My mom got them when my dad passed in 1974, and my grandfather in 1976…..so he did his digging and found me and my two siblings and three cousins that indeed had rights in these two counties. I did NOT have to do anything to prove heirship but I did sign the lease agreement and pooling agreement. That was in late 2023 and I got a lease bonus payment and four wells in Wetzel started to pay royalties this summer, with the first one being for March to June. Then monthly payments.
@MT1985- If Antero or the Landman doesn’t respond, I recommend sending a letter of concern to Antero’s main headquarters via priority mail with a signature required. Keep in mind that during the holiday season, many oil and gas professionals may take time off for the remainder of the year, so it might be more effective to try reaching out at the beginning of the new year.
Yeah I contacted them a month ago and got a ticket number. That was the last I heard from them. Even reached out to Texahoma and got no response. Go figure lol