My parents both passed away five months apart 22 years ago in 1997. Many of the royalty interest, oil and mineral in Texas, New Mexico, and Oklahoma were sold to the oil and gas clearinghouse in Texas the following year. In the last 12 months I have found three or four companies that apparently had small interest remaining in my mother’s name/estate’s name. Those fell through the cracks and the company stated that they will distribute division orders once wills are recorded in the counties. One company says that won’t be sufficient, that they will need me to record a conveyance order transferring it from my mom’s name to each heir. However, never completed probate in the state of New Mexico where the interest exists. All that was filed was the recording of the will and order admitting the will to probate as my parents passed in Washington state. That was good enough to sell interests but not good enough to receive suspense funds the company has. I’ve contacted three different attorneys but am getting different answers from each.
I can only speak for Oklahoma. In Oklahoma, to have marketable (good) title, you will need to have a probate done in Oklahoma. Many times companies will allow you to file an affidavit of heirship so as to get paid, but they don’t have to do that. Some companies won’t accept it.
Further, you may still need the probate down the line if a new well ever gets drilled. In other words, if you go the affidavit of heirship route, you are fixing the problem now, but in some sense you are kicking the problem down to your kids and your heirs. I don’t know New Mexico law, but I’ve been told the answer is similar to Oklahoma.
In Oklahoma, your parents’ estates can be combined into one. Also, they would probably qualify for a summary probate procedure.
In New Mexico, you will either need to do ancillary probate in a New Mexico court of jurisdiction or, if the probate was completed in another state, you can likely authenticate the foreign probate through a simpler process. Either will probably require an actual distribution of the mineral interest in the County records by a personal representative’s deed. If the probate was completed in Washington, the process should be relatively straightforward and economic.