My father inherited mineral rights in Reagan County. After a years worth of work, We were able to get a payment from XTO Energy for $10,300 for suspended funds from 2019-current.
My question is, no payments had ever been collected from these wells previously. I’ve checked missing money, the states in which the deceased relative lived, in the state of TX, to no avail. I see funds listed under XTO Energy, but have no way to identify them. The mineral rights purchased by my great grandfather was in 1915, so there’s been no change of ownership.
Forgive me but you might have already done this… have you looked up the wells with on the Reagan County aprasial dist website? Thats one way to refference them, and you can do some searching on the county clerks website for the lease names, gransfathers name, etc..to run them down. Usuaslly these are conveyed via probate but that doesnt always have occur. Im not an expert and only know some things mostly from needing to track down stuff my folks have inheriented. If you like you can send me a message with some well info and some lease names, I think there is a way to send it directly so it isnt seen by everyone an their dogs brother.
If they are tied to a person then usually the county is wanting some tax money for it over the years so thats where I would start but you might have already done so.
Cheers,
B
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There could be many complexities with this issue. First, try to establish a purchaser/operator history for the subject wells using the TX RRC. Second, use the Reagan CAD to perform searches on the properties under your great grandfather’s name looking at years prior to 2019. This will provide you with some more information.
Missing Money does not cover all States with data integrity, so you may have to check places such as DE which is the domicile for many corporations. Just keep after it since the money never goes away. Research almost always pays off. Good luck.
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I would first start with finding the deed or deeds that your Grandfather acquired and read the deed to see if there were any minerals reserved by the previous owners.
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The first question is the date of first production from the identified wells. If no lease was signed, then your grandparent was an unleased mineral owner and would not have received any revenues until the wells paid-out (recovered all costs). Is your father receiving revenues and paying a JIB or has he now signed a lease?
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I’ve found the original deed from 1916. It’s under two different names that are not my great grandfather, but it is the deed XTO Energy had us use for the change of ownership. It doesn’t mention any reserved mineral rights, it’s just selling the 100 acres out right.
When I researched the wells individually (there are 9), it looks as though they were all put into production in 2018. I wasn’t able to find any records prior to that.
My dad has not signed any lease agreements. All we did was request a change of ownership with XTO, and a few months later they mailed a check. We just received the first check two days ago.
I can’t seem to find a way to direct message you, but the lease names are under Frank Powell, lease numbers 20101, operator is XTO Energy. There are 9 wells. From what I’ve found, they just started producing in 2018. I cannot find anything prior to that
I was able to look further into the production of the wells, but it appears there’s nothing prior to 2018. I’m assuming there are no additional funds since they paid out 2018-current in the check they sent two days ago.
You have been a busy person with your research. If the wells started producing in 2018 and there were no previous wells on the property, then you have most likely located all suspended and UCP funds.
You may want to look a little deeper on a few things for the property files. If you do not find an OGL in the records, then your father may be an unleased mineral owner (UMO). You can review the Division Order and the check detail to confirm this status. Another indicator is if XTO is sending bills for operating costs (JIB) or making such deductions from your Father’s checks. The results of this research is not going to yield more money, but it will provide better information for future decisions.
One last suggestion. You may want to perform a State Wide search on your great grandfather’s name using TexasFile.com. It costs $5 and could provide a lead to other properties. Great work!
I had a very similar problem and discovered that any unclaimed funds from XTO Energy (a subsidiary of Exxon) will not show up on any unclaimed site other than this one: https://unclaimedproperty.delaware.gov/app/claim-search type your family member’s name in and if there was anything that they have reported that your family member is owed it will pop up there.