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!
Glad to help! The oil company (Chord) is not paying us on our accretion acres so we have to hire an attorney to get some help with that which we are doing right now. It’s a pain and expensive but my sister and I want to get this cleared up for the next generation, and also so we can benefit from our property rather than the oil company just holding the royalties in suspense. They are not required to pay interest since they are considering it a title issue that needs to be addressed. Since it sounds like you have accretion acres you may have royalties building up that the oil company is holding in suspense. I’d call and ask. If you’re lucky they will tell you how much. But that’s hit and miss depending on who you talk to. Very frustrating. Good luck!
While you are using the attorney, be sure and get a copy of any new surveys that have been done that give you the accretion acres. Important to keep in your files. That river will continue to move, so having a stamp in time is important.
Since you know theres a lot there, does it fall within the SE/4? Companies handle this differently some will list the lot # while others will list the 1/4 sections when rivers are involved. It doesnt mean one company is right and one is wrong, as these change every 20-30 years or whenever a company decides its worth to survey again. If major changes happen with the river, a cross conveyance and stipulation of interest will be filed.
As far as the AOH, they are used to list the heirs and relatives at the time of passing. Its hard to fully understand your questions and what exactly you are trying to find out? So, no heirs have leased, you think one heir is claiming more then they should be, someone signed a lease, changed their mind and now doesnt want to lease but waiting on a check? And you dont want to sign with the land company that offered you the lease, do you or this web of people have any other offers?
thank you! I do have a copy of the new updated survey thanks to my mom’s diligence. I will make sure there hasn’t been another one since 2012 though!!! Have a great day and thank you for your information
Bob 77, concerning the AOH and lease. One member signed as 50% heir, when they are actually 16.6% heir. He regrets signing, but has already turned the lease and the affidavit in. He has not recieved a bonus check yet. The widow (50%) found out last minute & remained unsigned, and two of his siblings( 16.6% heir) were not even contacted. There have been no other offers and all were unaware of this land at all. They do have land elsewhere in ND.
Thank you so much for your interest and reply.
It is not sufficient to simply regret signing a legal document which contains false information as that can have legal ramifications. The signing claimant needs to immediately notify the other party that the affidavit is not true and revoke it. Best to send a revocation and perhaps a replacement affidavit. If the affidavit was filed in the deed records, then a correction affidavit should be filed. Consult an attorney about how to do this effectively.