Debbie,
My experience in this situation has been good using the following procedure:
- Get a rough idea of the economic potential of the minerals you perceive will be awarded to you. If the mineral share is economically valuable,
- Find out if the other beneficiaries want to have their shares distributed to them personally and will share in the legal cost.
- Take the Trust Document to a lawyer (an estate or mineral lawyer is best or maybe the lawyer who set up the trust in the first place).
- Ask the lawyer to draft an assignment out of the trust that conforms to the provisions of the trust. Don’t guess. The lawyer can find out if the trust was filed in Wyoming and Missouri or wherever the minerals are located.
- The lawyer can put the assignment in the proper form acceptable to Missouri and to Wyoming.
- Have the acting Trustee execute the assignments before a notary and file in the appropriate counties. You will then be the owner of record.
If you need recommendations for a lawyer, send me a personal message and I will give you some names. I have an association with an Oregon-based law firm and have a few contacts in the KF area.