I believe I originally posted this to the wrong discussion group. I'm reposting this discussion from the Oil and Gas Leasing help group.
I'm new to the forum, so i'll be hit and miss on how to use for awhile.
I got a call from an oil and gas firm last week, to discuss my holding in Slope county, outside of Rhame. They weren't looking to lease or anything. What they were checking on was to make sure all ownership documents were up-to-date with the county. They identified that surface owners were searching records, and find holding that have been inactive for years, and were going to court in an attempt to take ownership of the holdings. They publish the names of the people of last record in a local paper and if there is no response they are able through the court system to take ownership.
Has anyone heard about this, and know anything about it.
Alex
If you haven’t used/ leased, used the mineras as collateral or filed a statement of claim on your minerals in the last 20 years, file a statement of claim immediately with your up to date information. You could lose your minerals otherwise. The state makes the surface owner look for you, but I don’t think they will do their best to find you. If 20 years have passed, file your claim.
RW,
Thanks for info, I'm contacting others that have interest in same holding, and will be updating all documents with Slope Co in the next few days.
again thanks for the assistance.
Alex
Regarding surface owners trying to claim mineral rights from the mineral owners, I was contacted by an oil company stating they wanted to buy our mineral rights in Slope County, ND. The mineral rights were leased by this oil company in 1996 from my children. So, there has been activity. They say there is nothing showing activity within 20 years. I was going to file a statement of claim in Slope County but the oil company just ignored that idea and said since this notice is up by June, the surface owner will claim the mineral rights. They say it would cost us too much for a Deed and that the Will would have to be probated. Why would the Will be probated now? This will was from 1987 and everything has already be disbursed. Can I still file a statement of claim to at least stop the surface owner from claiming the mineral rights? Alex, who asked you about surface owners claiming mineral rights was contacted me. His mother had a deed drawn up before she died but my mother did not have a deed transferring the rights to my children. But I do have the Will. The oil company did not have any problem me sending them a copy of the Will when they wanted to lease the mineral rights. I can't imagine it costing that much or be that complicated to transfer the rights to my children. Something must be going on for them to want to buy the rights so that the surface owner can't have them. Thanks for your help.
Charla
r w kennedy said:
If you haven't used/ leased, used the mineras as collateral or filed a statement of claim on your minerals in the last 20 years, file a statement of claim immediately with your up to date information. You could lose your minerals otherwise. The state makes the surface owner look for you, but I don't think they will do their best to find you. If 20 years have passed, file your claim.
You can file a claim. If the previous lease was recorded by the lessee in 1996 the surface owner could not claim your minerals, that were leased. You don’t need to have the will probated to file a statement of claim. Statements of claim are pretty simple and only serve the purpose of showing you have not abandoned the minerals, so your claim can not be extinguished. If you sign a lease and an operator drills and you are due royalty, payments can be held up by a cloud on the title. In such a case you may need to probate the estate in N.D. to receive a mineral deed to be recorded in the county in which the minerals exist. You certainly have time before june to file/have recorded a statement of claim, but I would do so immediately ( I’d take no ones word about the date your rights would be extinguished). My dealings with the counties in N.D. is that they record things they receive immediately, but it may take them 6 weeks to return to you a sealed, bar coded original copy. If you know who the surface owner is atop your minerals, a simple letter, notorized and with tracking by the post office, that you have filed a claim (I’d send them a copy of the notorized statement of claim), should stop them in their tracks. If only a portion of your mierals were leased in 1996, I don’t know if the others are vulnerable, they might be. That might be a reason why the lease from 1996 isn’t affording you protection; because they are going after minerals that were not leased, then. Get a claim recorded with ALL your mineral legal descriptions, if your minerals are in more than one county file it in both counties. Gather all of your information, deeds , wills, probates and or prior claims and with the help of a lawyer you could have your claim recorded by the end of next week. Hurry, and good luck.
Thank you for the advice. Charla
r w kennedy said:
You can file a claim. If the previous lease was recorded by the lessee in 1996 the surface owner could not claim your minerals, that were leased. You don't need to have the will probated to file a statement of claim. Statements of claim are pretty simple and only serve the purpose of showing you have not abandoned the minerals, so your claim can not be extinguished. If you sign a lease and an operator drills and you are due royalty, payments can be held up by a cloud on the title. In such a case you may need to probate the estate in N.D. to receive a mineral deed to be recorded in the county in which the minerals exist. You certainly have time before june to file/have recorded a statement of claim, but I would do so immediately ( I'd take no ones word about the date your rights would be extinguished). My dealings with the counties in N.D. is that they record things they receive immediately, but it may take them 6 weeks to return to you a sealed, bar coded original copy. If you know who the surface owner is atop your minerals, a simple letter, notorized and with tracking by the post office, that you have filed a claim (I'd send them a copy of the notorized statement of claim), should stop them in their tracks. If only a portion of your mierals were leased in 1996, I don't know if the others are vulnerable, they might be. That might be a reason why the lease from 1996 isn't affording you protection; because they are going after minerals that were not leased, then. Get a claim recorded with ALL your mineral legal descriptions, if your minerals are in more than one county file it in both counties. Gather all of your information, deeds , wills, probates and or prior claims and with the help of a lawyer you could have your claim recorded by the end of next week. Hurry, and good luck.