To Heir or not?

Law & Legal
1

Hello, I’m new to this forum, and looking for some direction. I am the only child of my parents. My mother died when I was approximately 5 months old. My father was in the Navy. I lived with my Grandparents who raised me until my Father remarried 5 years later. My mother was one of 4 children. Her parents, my grandparents, owned 5 acres of land in Bloomington, Texas. When they passed away, each of their children was to receive one quarter interest in the property. When my mother died, her share was to be transferred to me.

My most recent information had my two surviving Uncles living on the property.

I recently received a call from an Agent for an Energy Company trying to locate me. Apparently they are interested in my share of the Mineral Rights. I was told there is not 5 acres but only 1.891 acres. I was also told they had information that I had passed away.

The direction I need. Where do I go from here. I’m unfamiliar with Texas law concerning these matters. I’m wondering if my Uncles may have thought, out of sight out of mind, and entered into contractual agreements without my input, thinking I wouldn’t know or mind. And what rights, if any, do I have?

Thanks.

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2

You can find Texas attorneys in the directory image above.
1/4 of five acres is ‭1.25‬ acres. Perhaps they were speaking about your interest and not including your uncles.

3

Got the original deed from the Bank box. States the property measures 110x750 in the shape of rectangle. Equates to 1.8939394 acres. Waiting for a call back from the company’s agent. Should have more information after the call.

4

Last month I received a lease agreement from Fristwood Energy LLC. Sent the lease along with Deed information to a Texas Attorney. Still waiting for a reply. Know very little about Frostwood Energy. Lease indicated a flat one time payment for lease of the land and no $$ amount for Royalties. Only description I have of the property is a vague ways and means. Still have no definitive decision on my share of ownership. County Records indicate the uncles sold the entire 1.89 acres. Google maps show improvements on approximately 2/3rds of the 1.89 parcel. Anyone have ideas on how to determine the legal description of the parcel as related to oil and gas leases. County could only give me plot and Property ID numbers. Thanks in advance.

5

I am of no help on Texas situations, but can attest to the fact that the uncles may well have been cashing your mothers checks. That happened to me, uncles and aunts lived well by cashing the checks after death of the owner of the minerals for 26 years!!. Apparently NOTHING happens at the well when an owner dies, and someone else can cash the checks for eternity. A new lease or an offer to buy is what seems to bring it to light. In my case the good ol post office brought it to a close. The crook moved but did not notify the writer of the checks of the new address. The Post Office would not forward nor release the checks without proof the dead man was alive, and he wasn’t!

6

Be sure you know what you are looking at: Is it a Deed or an Oil, Gas & Mineral Lease?

A lease will not have an amount of money listed for royalty, it will have either a fraction, decimal or percentage. Usually it is a fraction, and usually the royalty clause in a preprinted lease is either paragraph 3. or 4. Look for “1/8,” “1/6,” or “3/16” or other fraction. In Texas, your mother inherited a proportionate part of the 5 acres and your uncles inherited their own share. What your uncles sold was their own share, not your mother’s share. And since it is considered separate property in Texas, your father couldn’t sell it or lease it on his own.

A Deed will not have a royalty clause, and it will not have a “term” clause saying “this lease is for 3 years from the date hereof” or similar language with an amount of time typed into the blank space. If you sign a Deed, you are selling your rights in the land. If it’s an OGML (lease), they will offer you a signing bonus (anywhere from $150 to $300 per net acre, possibly a few dollars more), but it’s only a lease, not a sale.

Chances are, your mother did not leave a will, or if she did it wasn’t probated, and probably no Affidavit of Death and Heirship was filed of record into Glasscock County because at that time if she didn’t own any real property (alone or jointly with your father) yet. It’s not too late to file an Affidavit of Death and Heirship into the County Records in Glasscock. I recommend that you hire a Texas licensed lawyer to help you with that.

You need to get an Affidavit of Death and Heirship filed into Glasscock County ASAP, because landmen working for oil companies will come asking you to sign a lease and they need to know who you are and where to find you.

To find out the legal description, you could use an online subscription service like Courthouse Direct, select Glasscock County, and enter your grandfather’s name and look at what comes up. The Deed or Probated Will where he inherited the interest should be in the list that comes up, if it didn’t happen earlier than the beginning date of those online records. The Deed or Probated Will documents will contain the legal description you’re looking for.

Hope this helps.

7

A probated Will may or may not have the legal description of the minerals in it. If the minerals were the subject of a specific devise, the legal description will be set forth in some manner. If the minerals passed under a residuary clause, it would be unlikely there would be a legal description. The probate inventory should contain a legal description, but it is not uncommon for the inventory to be inaccurate.

8

Often a final order in a probate will include omitted asset clause. It basically states that assets belonging to the heir should be distributed according to the order even though they were not identified.