In my father's will, he left me the oil rights he inherited from his family. His wife has filled a claim saying she is entitled to the mineral rights as the oil rights mentioned in my father's will pertained only to wells in operation at the time of his death - 3 yrs ago, and the mineral rights were left to her, even though there is no other mention than royalty interest being left to his son in the will. The will states that any properties not specifically mentioned in the will would be hers and her attorney said the mineral rights fall in that clause. I just recently learned of these rights, and when I contacted the operator stating I was the rightful heir, they suspended the account and advised that I needed to take this to court and have a judge decide who is the rightful owner of these rights. Does this sound correct to you? Is there a difference in royalty interest and mineral rights? Do I have any recourse at all about this? Any advise would be extremely helpful as my wife doesn't want me to spend monies on attornies if it is not necessary. Thanks - Al
It sounds to me, based on the actions of the operator, that you don't have any recourse but to hire an attorney.
People come to this site all of the time and throw terms around. Someone would need to know exactly what your father owned at the time of his death, and also read, word for word, his will.
Dave gave a great answer here. You may need to probate your fathers will to get the royalty you would be entitled to. I suspect the operator had been paying the royalty to someone for the last 3 years and that will be a can of worms.
Like Dave I have not seen the entire document and I wont guess. Possible interpretations are that you only have royalty from wells drilled at the time of your fathers death, but I think it's at least a possible interpretation that you could have royalty from all wells until the current lease expires on it's own terms, by which time there may be very little value to the mineral rights themselves. You might mention this to the attorney, which I agree you need. Good luck.
Thank you for your response. I kinda figured that the operator may be worried that they had been paying the wrong heir. The will was probated after a battle. Father's wife was to have given me all the info on the leases etc so that my attorney could get the paperwork done to get them in my name. Obviously wife just convently forgot to give me info on a couple of them. Funny how that works. She has remarried, and it may have to be one of those things of just letting the account stay in suspense as I doubt she would spend the money on something that is a loser for her should this come to court. Time will tell, but you all know as well as I, that when lawyers get involved the cost can be way more than what it is worth. I just don't understand that if it is not specifically mentioned in the will as being left to her, how on earth did they buy that when it specifically did mention leaving the oil royalties to me? Isn't it amazing?! Thanks - Al