Unknown mineral rights

I have been contacted by someone, that will give me little information, except that my brothers and I have mineral rights in a piece of property in WV. He is offering all of us 1000 dollars to sell our share in a quick claim deed. He will not let us know where the property is, and we really have no way of knowing, because our parents died when we were very young, and we do not know our relations. He has only told us that it is in northern WV, and will give out no more information. We were told that if we don’t sign, we would lose our rights all together. What should we do? We cannot afford an attorney, and do not know even where to begin with research.

Have him send you the Quit Claim Deed, and then don’t sign it. It will give you the legal description. You can then do further research. This person is very shady. You will not lose your rights altogether by virtue of not signing. However that doesn’t mean that the rights aren’t in danger by virtue of an abandoned mineral rights statute (I don’t know if WV has that or not), or failure to pay taxes, etc.

He has shown me a copy of the Quick claim deed, and there is no information, accept that if I sign it, I agree to either receive 100 per acre, or 50% to be split with this guy.

My brother has already signed his quick claim deed, and the guy gave him 1000 cash. Are my rights now in jeapordy?

You are probably being scammed. Why would your brother sign a document, conveying something, when it doesn’t even contain a legal description? This guy can now fill in whatever description he wants. Your brother may have just sold this man his house for $1000. Does this document actually say “Quick Claim”? The term is actually “Quit Claim”.

I'm sorry, it does say Quit claim deed.

So, I might as well get my 1000 dollars and sign the paper, because my other 2 brothers just informed me that they have signed the paper also! I cannot afford and Attorney, so I am probably out of luck on this one.

The Quit claim deed does not describe the property at all.

You missed my point entirely. So go for it.



Ida Woods said:

I'm sorry, it does say Quit claim deed.

So, I might as well get my 1000 dollars and sign the paper, because my other 2 brothers just informed me that they have signed the paper also! I cannot afford and Attorney, so I am probably out of luck on this one.

Unless you are going to die for a lack of $1,000, don’t sign. I presume W.Virginia being a fairly old and long settled state they have electronic record keeping. When your brothers quitclaim deeds are recorded you can find out where the minerals are. Failing that you may be able to search the tax rolls for people in your family tree. Your brothers may be able to recover their rights as they do not know what they are selling. I think there is no meeting of the minds, which would be required for a legal contract. I think this person will record the deeds or sell to someone who will record them soon. For all you know there could have been a well for the last 20 years. It might be worth $50 and a little effort to find out. Have your brothers chip in. Runor has it they recently got hold of $1,000. Good luck, whatever you do.

You might have been published in the local paper for failure to pay taxes.

Search this website

http://www.wvsao.gov/CountyCollections/delinquentlandsearch.aspx

(State of West Virginia Auditor's Office) for any family names you know of.
You could also get a copy of a map of West Virginia and look up phone numbers for the tax offices of any county that looks "northern" and call and ask if your name is listed, either as owning or as owing back taxes. And as was suggested see if anybody (county clerk's offices) can tell you if your brothers' deeds are filed.

Ida,

That sounds very crooked to me. Maybe a landman from WV will contact you after seeing your message. You don't have to deal with the "no info" guy. You can find a landman on your own. I seriously doubt you're in danger of losing your interests. Not only is this guy being a bad business man/woman, what he is doing may be illegal. I'd check with the landman association to see not only if he's a landman but also what kind of reputation he has. Something tells me it won't be good. As a matter of fact, a landman association might be your best bet for finding your minerals and getting some honest answers. I wish you a lot of luck,

Wes

If I was you, I would take everything you had received pertaining to this transaction to your local Clerk & Recorders office and tell them what is happening. I would think this is illegal. They may be able to point you in the correct direction to get you help. Since I feel this would be illegal, I would also take this to the law enforcement.