I recently became aware of inherited mineral rights. Recently, these rights were sold by a non heir. After at lot of research, here is the situation:
- Mineral rights were inherited by my grandfather.
- He died in 1997 and left a will passing the mineral rights to his wife, my grandmother
- My grandmother filed an Affidavit of Heirship in Canadian Co, OK in 1997 and began receiving royalties.
- My grandmother died in 2007. A probate case was opened in NM with the will.
- My grandmother’s will left everything to me and my brother brother and specifically left nothing to my father with wording in the will as such. The mineral rights were not known of at the time. The executor of the will never completed the case and it was not closed by the court.
- My father died in 2011 and was married at the time.
- In 2022, I started receiving offers to buy mineral rights. I began researching and gathering documentation in my spare time trying to piece everything together.
- Today, I found in county court records that my father’s wife filed an Affidavit of Heirship for both my grandmother and father claiming she was the heir to these mineral rights. Wills were not attached for either of them. She also incorrectly/fraudulently listed herself as our parent.
- She then sold the mineral rights to a company for $13k. Mineral deed recorded in county.
- The company then resold the mineral rights for a big profit. Mineral deed recorded in county.
- I was estranged from my father since age 6 and therefore don’t have interaction with his wife.
I am at a loss on how all of this happened without a title search, wills or even a search of probate court records in NM where my grandmother was a resident.
My question is how do we proceed? Where do I start? Do I contact the company/companies who bought the mineral rights? Do we probate in OK? Do I just need to get legal counsel from the start? What are our chances of recovering any money?
Thank you for any help!
