My Uncle created a Family Trust for his heirs, and many years ago his attorneys signed an O&G Lease for property that he had previously deeded away to my mother. Do I have any recourse at this time?
If the trust divested its ownership to your mother and the deed is recorded, then the lease is only effective as to the acreage the Trust still owned, if any. Attorneys typically don’t have authority to sign deeds on behalf of their clients.
1 Like
Wow. I wish this were the first time I heard of this happening, but it’s not. At least it should be relatively clear who owned the property at the time, who had the right to sign for what, and that the person who signed it was/wasn’t that person. Unfortunately, you’d probably need to contact another attorney to draft the filings for recourse, since the only thing worse would be accidentally filing something false with the county.
I’m guessing you’re unhappy with the lease terms?
To the attorneys in the room: What would cause this to happen? Misunderstanding of what a lease is? Miscommunication of who was POA at the time? Messy/grey legal practices? I’m just genuinely curious.
Without reviewing deed and documents, it is not possible to know what went on. Was a recorded for 100% of the uncle’s interest (or only a portion) before the minerals were assigned to the trust? Did uncle reserve any right to lease on behalf of the mother? Who has been receiving the associated royalties over the years? Any part paid to mother? Did she ratify the lease or grant a power of attorney to the lawyers at that time? Has this issue ever been raised before? Did mother only get a partial interest and later sell to a third party or did she contribute it back to family trust? What about the drilling title opinions which would have reviewed all the deeds? The poster needs to hire an oil and gas title attorney to review all of the documents and determine the legal position.
1 Like
If your Uncle gave his attorney a power of attorney to manage the affairs of the trust before he passed, or his attorney was named as custodian to manage the affairs of the trust after your Uncle’s death, then he had a legal right to sign a lease on behalf of your uncle or on behalf of the trust. The problem that comes into play is exactly when or if either of the above scenarios happened, compared to when your Uncle gave the mineral rights to your Mother and if they were registered correctly with the county clerk’s office. So, without more information and exact dates, no on can figure out if legal or not. Think about this: your uncles attorney, as custodian of the trust, can not buy, sell, barter or lease on behalf of the trust anything that the trust does not own. So he could not have leased minerals without a POA before or that your Uncles Trust did not own at the time of his passing.
I think the POA if there is one should have been filed along with the executed lease. Seems to me that would be good practice even if not required.
Tracy, to answer your question. Candidly, and in the nicest way to say it, I suspect Christina may be mistaken. I think the most likely scenarios are:
- the lease was executed by another party, and she may misunderstand that it doesn’t cover her interest;
- The recitation that the lease was executed by an attorney-in-fact under a power of attorney is misunderstood. She may believe that the person executing the lease was her Uncle’s attorney (and it could be).
I stand by my initial response. If her mother owned her interest separate from the Trust, then it hasn’t been leased. Her question was, does she have recourse? Sounds like it. Like other posters on here, an attorney or experienced land professional needs to examine all the relevant documents.