I have recently stepped in to assist my father get mineral interest property accounts transferred to his name in Rusk County, TX. I was finally able to locate it but met with resistance trying to transfer ownership. The records we have are still under his mother’s name, who has been deceased since 1995. I have been told that I am only still seeing the current statements because of minimal tax owed in 2006-2009 but the interest no longer is under her name currently. When attempting to transfer the records through Rusk County Clerk’s Office, we were referred to Prichard and Abbott, an appraisal firm. The division order analyst only transferred over three of the parcels and stated that the remaining seven are under a different individual’s name. When I pressed on, I was told that the transfer was made in 2013. The problem with this scenario is both individuals were deceased well before 2013. Next, I was then told that the operator made the transfer and sent the records to P&A; however, she fails to reveal the names of the operators or provide any written evidence of this transfer. After receiving contradictory and shifting emailed responses, the division order analyst has now evaded any further questions. I am supposed to accept her word that a transfer of ownership took place in 2013 and that is that. The operators have been quite evasive themselves; there are no records indicating this transfer ever took place, that can be provided by Prichard and Abbott or Rusk County. I am merely trying to get the remaining seven parcels legally transferred into the rightful heir’s name.
Have you transferred the title in the deed records into your father’s name? This is essential for your father to be paid. Is it possible that the property taxes in your grandmother’s name were not paid and so the county foreclosed on her minerals and they were sold in a sheriff’s sale? You need to trace the ownership in the deed records to determined how and when or if any transfers were made.
You may be able to use www.TexasFile.com or www.courthousedirect.com to trace the parcels’ deed history.
Thank you so much. I will look into that.
Thank you so much for your response. The owner at the time which was my father’s mother has been deceased since 1995 and after all these years, I am just now discovering these parcels from Rusk County Tax Office’s website. So, what I was trying to do was to update the records with the tax office and was referred to Pritchard and Abbott who is the county’s appraisal firm that update tax records. P & A’s division order analyst confirmed that only three of the ten parcels could be transferred into my father’s name as the other seven were already transferred by the former operator in 2013 for tax purposes. I did not see any recent deed records or any transfer of record filings under the county clerk’s division, so we are unsure of what to do especially as both individuals were deceased at the time of the transfer. The current operator has been very evasive in answering any questions, so we are out of options. Originally, we were just wanting to update the records for the most up-to-date information and discovered that transfer of ownership was done at the operator level in 2013 which we had no knowledge of and we are unable to retrieve any recorded evidence of this. Ultimately, we want the ownership parcels to be under the actual direct heir’s name and for the oil and gas operators to have that current information on file, recognizing that change but the unexpected modification of records that cannot be verified complicated this issue.
The websites may allow you to trace who and when the ownership was transferred. You have a date, so that helps. Then you can see if the transfer was legal and if there was a sheriff’s sale.
Being listed on tax website does not establish or prove title. That can only be done via the deed records, not through the tax assessor or P&A. First you need to find the deeds into your grandmother and search to determine that she did not sell or assign the minerals to another party or that they were not sold through a sheriff’s sale. Then you need to file to transfer the title to the parcels into your father’s name, whether by filing your grandmother’s probate records or other means. An estate or oil and gas title attorney can assist you with this process. Then you provide the title records to the oil company operator so that royalties can be paid. The oil company will provide the current royalty owners to P&A. It may be that the oil company could not find your grandmother and so listed her interest as unknown or added it the its tax side, while holding the royalties. But if they were sold through tax foreclosure, then only an attorney can tell you what, if anything, can be done.
Actually, that website was extremely helpful. I actually came across several other operators that are operating under my grandmother’s mineral interest in other counties in Texas and I am reaching out to them as well. Thank you so kindly!
Thank you for the advice. I will definitely follow up with it.