I have a lease for consideration via a private landman. the township 162N, Range 102W of 5th, Section 6:SE4 in North Dakota. Is the SE4 the lot? or does this not contain a lot#?
This ‘landman’ sent so many red flags in the 2 minutes I talked to him that my skin crawled. He actually got one of the family members to sign an affidavit of heirship with incorrect division, and the really sketchy lease and hand them in. He has not been paid, and has changed his mind, but does not know what to do now. Any suggestions?
“Lots” are for city plats or can also be for irregularly spaced sections. In your case, SE4 is fine.
Be very careful with the lease clauses. Best to get an attorney to review them. NEVER hand over a lease without getting paid. The affidavit can be corrected by sending in a new one. Be sure to have backup documents for the correct division.
Thank you M_Barnes. I have put my faith in you and your responses for years and truly appreciate your knowledge. Most of this stuff makes my head spin!
I do have some follow up questions if you dont mind. There isn’t really a division percent space on a affidavit. Where would it be added? Perhaps added/stapled with, like the death certificate?
He did send in the lease without a payment made. Does it matter if the check–which has not arrived yet, is cashed or not? I thought it had to be cashed before the lease could be filed.
Again, thank you. Not everyone is so willing to help.
The affidavit part is a question for an attorney as to what is required in ND.
Many leasing agents have been known to file leases without paying for them. Depending upon the state, the lease may be considered valid even though no payment has been received. It is considered a debt, but may not invalidate the lease depending upon the state regulations.
What many of us do is send a copy of the signed lease to the agent, but every page has COPY DO NOT FILE in HUGE Black Marker especially over the signature line. We have the original held by a neutral third part such as accountant, attorney or bank trust officer. When the check clears, the original is handed over to the leasing agent to be filed properly. Always keep a copy of your signed lease!
So essentially, because he has signed it and returned it, it cant be undone. But when he gets a check for double the amount deserved, what will happen?
If you have evidence that contradicts the affidavit, then you can follow up with a different one. Best to talk to an attorney to have it done correctly. The first leasing title opinion may not be the final one.
If drilling is done, then a Division Order title opinion will be conducted by a different firm. They will go back to patent and trace every mineral owner to determine the owner’s correct decimal amount for royalties. They have to have “marketable title”.
Hello - my legal descriptions reference specific lots because the area of land owned changed due to the river changing since the original map was drawn from the Louisiana Purchase. When the land was sold years ago the deed referenced including any future accretions (additional land exposed as a result of waterways changing) so we were covered. When oil activity began, there was a new map to reflect the change in the riverbed exposing additional land (accretion). That additional land doesn’t fit in a perfect square so it was assigned lot numbers and specific acreage numbers. My deed legal description now references the specific lot numbers (and of course any future accretion that may happen…because you never know!). So my legal description has section numbers and quarter references, but also says lot numbers for those parts that are adjacent to an area of water.
If your land has a water way adjacent, you should look into this. I don’t know the legal issues on if the original deed didn’t include accretion verbiage.
Hope this helps. I am so thankful my mom walked me through all of this before she passed. I wouldn’t have known otherwise and would be pretty much lost on this oil stuff. Good luck!
Indeed you are correct. The recent lease had no lot #, as I was comparing it to an old lease from a different area that did include a lot # (next to the river). So that is perfectly fits in my head now. Yes, the river area dead stoped payments for a great while with my previous land.
Thank you so much! You people are such a blessing, jsaa. I am now trying to explain it to my children so they never have the stress this has caused.. The boys seem to glaze over, but the girls seem to get the essence. i want them to utilize lawyers if needed, but I want them to be knowledgeable enough to seperate ‘legal from ethical, fair, or in their best interest.’ Again, I thank you so very much!