Texas Mineral Rights Group archives

I’m new here and need legal help. My mother left her 5th. Of mineral rights to my dad who is 95 and he wants to put the rights into a corporation and issue stock to each of his surviving children to keep any of us from selling off their portion of the rights. My mother had stressed that we were always to keep the rights together and pass on to our children and so on. He didn’t know if he should place the rights in a corporation before he passes or let me and my brother do it after he passes. My brother and I are joint executors but don’t know if we can put them in a corp. without permission of the other siblings or would it be better for him to do it while he is living and has full control of the rights. What should we do to honor my mothers request.

Good Afternoon,

We own 160 acres in DAWSON County we want to lease not sale, it is located in the N/W 4 of section 28 block 35 we own all the minerals and all the depth, if you are interested contact me at marc.rogers33@yahoo.com there are 4 of us Thank you

For Darrell D. My Family had the same issue and I’ll tell you what happened. My grandfather deeded the rights to his five children before his death. The mineral rights were not mentioned in his will. If they had been it would’ve been a whole lot easier for the rest of us. We did not find out about the mineral rights until the oil company contacted me because they were starting to drill. It took us a long time to prove our ownership rights because all five of the heirs had passed away 40 years ago. We had a copy of grandfather’s will and if the mineral rights had been mentioned in there the way his declaration stated we would not have had the hassle of proving who we were We had to find death certificates and do more research to see if they were any children of the ones that we did not know about. We finally straightened it out and three of us share my father’s portion. My two cousins share their mothers portion. The other uncles had no children so the five of us are splitting their portions equally but it took a long long time and a bit of attorney fees to get it done. I would suggest that he make the trust fund now while he’s alive with him getting the residuals, then he can leave that trust to his heirs in his will to be divided however he wants. It was also suggested to me by the oil company that I fill out a form with them now while I am alive, stating who my royalties go to and in what proportion. That way my children will only have to provide my death certificate in order to claim their inheritance. My grandfather said these mineral rights were to go to his children and their heirs and assigns forever and ever and I am going to make sure that happens at least for my section of the family.

Lara Lunden- are you doing a trust or a LLC? The more I read, a LLC might be the best way. What do others think?

Carol I haven't done anything yet but would like to know the best thing to do. I have 5 children and 11 grandchildren so far along with 2 greats. I want them to get it easily without all the hassle I had

Carol, Try the search feature in the upper right. There have been some threads about the pros and cons of trusts, LLCs and LPs.

Thank you. ( as always, you are a help!!)

Carol and Lora,

I just met with our attorney earlier this week about our wills. And he suggests we put our mineral rights in an LLC. Not cheap to get this done but the baton can be passed down several generations without the hassle of probating each time someone passes away. Pay now or later! We are going to get this set up to make it easier on our kids.

Thanks. Will you form the LLC now, or put in the Will that the LLC is to be set up by your heirs?

Thank you!

I have a small interest in Montgomery County, TX whereby the operator, Denbury, sends me a royalty check once per year. The last three years, the total is $1.26, ie postage is in excess of this royalty payment. Does cashing the check, this one $0.30, affirmatively acknowledge by me that this land is "held by production"? Clearly this is an uneconomical unit but I attempt to avoid having any proceeds remitted as abandoned property to the State of Texas.

Whether the unit is uneconomic or not depends on whether it is making an overall profit for the operator. The test is 100% of the total revenue less operating expenses and less royalties. Operating expenses do not include a major repair of the well. Keep in mind that while your royalty decimal is extremely small and you are paid annually, other owners may own interests sufficiently large to be paid monthly.

Well if I take my $0.30 royalty for actually 13 months, and divide by my royalty percent, that puts the economics of this well at $172.80 gross for 13 months, or $13.29 per month. Now computer costs alone are bound to be in excess of this, call that overhead, same with rent, add personnel involvement to any degree and this is simply uneconomical being held by issuing this anemic check. So if agree to that, do I harm my position by depositing the check?

You can only apply the direct costs of the well - not computers, rent, office personnel, company overhead. There can be other factors such as whether you are being paid on a tract basis and whether this well is part of a larger operating unit. Is it a gas well or an oil well? The actual gross sales should be listed on your check rather than you estimating some number.

None of those Lease Operating Expenses should be shouldered by you as a non WI owner. This is just another example of unethical practices & provisions. A clause stating no post prediction deduction must be included. It is our generations pugh clause. I’m sorry William

Good Afternoon,

My family and I have 2 areas of land for lease in Dawson County, there are 4 of us, we only own the minerals, we do not want to sale, we have one area that is 240 acres, it is in Block 35 section 2 T4N, the 160 is in Block 35 Section 28 T5N. please contact me at marc.rogers33@yahoo.com if you have any questions. thank you

Willard, You need to post this in the Dawson County group.

Recently sold some minerals, I am looking to reinvest.

Does anyone know of any good landmen or companies to contact?

Thanks!

I am having problems with a company in Texas sending me and my siblings our division orders. My father died 3 years ago as a life tenate and because of the messy estate we have taken to file affidavits of heirship in our biggest producing counties, I have emailed over 20 companies this documentation along with whatever else they requested and it was accepted and our division orders delivered to us. This company however is telling me they want the completed probate, I explained the probate is unfortunately a messy affair and sent by email the affidavit of heirship it’s on the county token of they want to look it up, and now they are requiring me to send in a certified letter with a hard copy of the affidavit and telling me it could be another 90 days before a decision will be made. It seems I have provided everything they should require and they are at this point being unreasonable. Is there any where I can submit a complaint to on this company?

Robert Gates, who is the company you have an issue with fulfilling their obligations? I sent you a friend request if you want to discuss. I have a similar issue.