I have asked this question previously, but never got an answer I could understand I guess. I am with power of attorney for my daughter, that inherited mineral interests (9 different ones in Chaves and Lea county New Mexico), some are leased and paying royalties even. These were passed down from her great great grandfather from back in the 1920s, thru 5 steps. I have gathered all the wills, probates etc, but still get the idea from this forum that there should be a deed for these minerals. I don’t think there ever has been a deed, and it would seem silly for her to make a deed. Simple question: Should there be a deed to these mineral interests and who should make one? All of the previous owners are deceased.
What is this about a deed to mineral rights
Perhaps one of the attorneys can speak to this. If the probate is crystal clear and she has legitimate title, there is probably no need for new deeds. The probates give the title path. Once upon a time, there was an original deed which should be filed in the Chaves and Lea County Courthouses.
You might find something way back at the BLM records which has digital files of the original patents which were the deeds granted by the federal government to the very first landowner. Search - BLM GLO Records . Always interesting to put them in your files.
Wow thanks M Barnes! What a treasure trove of very old documents, i had no idea they had been digitized! This will be a great help in my search to finally find ALL the original patents for him, I am searching for them yet as well. So far I have just been pulling up patents from the 1800s just to entertain myself, proving that it don’t take much to entertain a very old guy!
Isn’t it fun!! I grew up in Hobbs, NM in Lea County. My dad was a geologist with Conoco, so I drove quite a few of those oil dusty roads with him when I was a kid. He would be so pleased at all the production now. Go Eagles!
I know the feeling. My wife (now deceased), her dad (in Albuquerque) had inherited the wells from his dad. When I would visit way back then (1960s), he would take me out to the wells to see who was stealing his oil. The wells were old shallow drilled in the 1920-1930 and were just petered out. In most cases, there would be a rig not even pumping and a tank with a little oil in it. I don’t think I ever convinced him that they were turned off because they were pumping air (I suppose they could stop on their own when no oil was present).
One in Hobbs (T18S R36E S10) seems to be in a residential section these days as much as I can see from Google Earth. Are you still in Hobbs?
Family squabbles and a lot of time later, I have been trying to work backwards to the time our ancestor put these wells in. I suspect that some may have been sold off illegally (my wife had turned into a vegetative state so they did a lot of crooked stuff for years. The link you gave should be a big help in being able to go back in time and see what he really had. Is it as complete and accurate as it seems?
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No guarantee on the data, but it is a good starting point. The NM oil and gas site has some good links.
http://ocdimage.emnrd.state.nm.us/imaging/WellFileCriteria.aspx
http://nm-emnrd.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=4d017f2306164de29fd2fb9f8f35ca75
Hey Don I just inherited mineral rights in WV and when I asked about the deed they said there aren’t deeds for mineral rights. Basically when my father passed I signed an affidavit and put the rights in my name. From my understanding that is as good as the title or deed.
This is to, perhaps, clear up any misconceptions about this. There are three ways to transfer title to real property, which includes oil, gas and mineral rights. The first is by deed, wherein A sells or deeds the property to B. could be a sale, could be a gift. This would transfer the ownership from A to B. Just like when you buy or sell a house. The second way is by inheritance, when an ancestor dies, and the ownership of the house, land or oil & gas rights are transferred to the decedent’s spouse or children. so, if one inherits the property, there won’t be a deed. But, if you wanted to transfer the property to your children or a spouse, then a deed would be prepared.
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After some time on this forum, I have become in agreement with this. In my case the original owner of the mineral rights died, willed to his son, then willed to that sons children (my deceased wife) , who then died leaving the rights to my daughter. That was a lot of tracking down documents and wills and probate, as well as having to go to an “affidavit of heirship” to finally get the rights to my daughter. It has been an interesting trip, since I started out as dumb as a box of rocks. Needless to say, this forum has been a very valuable asset to me.
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Thank you Don so much for the input! This was my late fathers, and I went through the affidavit of heirship and was wondering if a deed would come in the mail or how that would work. Then I called and they explained to me that there wouldn’t be a deed, but not necessarily why there wouldn’t be. So now I have a mineral ID number that I was given by a company but no way to pin point where the minerals are exactly or if they’re leased
@tim_dowd thank you so much for the clarification on that! I was hoping I hadn’t done something wrong here. I’m completely new to mineral ownership. I have however been studying as much as I can since this has all happened.
Tim- Interesting that you stated 3 ways but only mentioned 2. The second of which is not acceptable in the State of Oklahoma. Just stating “I inherited this” doesn’t pass the title standards act. A probate is required. Some companies may accept Affidavits, but affidavits have no power to transfer any title. What is the 3rd way?
I am not sure of any of the laws of the state of WVa.
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I am not familiar with anything in Oklahoma re mineral rights, but your statement is puzzling. Can one actually go back 100 years and probate an estate that was not required to be probated back then? How about one that WAS probated but failed to mention the mineral rights, can it then be somehow amended or re opened? Maybe there are provisions, but it looks like an endless chase to me. These cannot always be too profitable either, I just got my daughters report of income from a gas well, total share for two months production was $.02. Don’t even pay for my services helping her, which was free! I am not just trying to be argumentative, but comments about the above would be enlightening to all.
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Agree as to the need for probate in Oklahoma. But, I was keeping it general for all states. Also, technically, the heirs own the interest the moment their ancestor dies, even if it is not marketable title. Real property must be owned 100% of the time by somebody.
The third way is judicial transfer. Typically, this comes by way of condemnation, wherein a court determines that the ownership is transferred to a governmental entity for valid purposes. Also, tax sales and sheriff’s sales under foreclosures fall into the category of judicial transfers. None of the above three examples are necessarily voluntary, and they aren’t as a result of inheritance.
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Yes, in fact multiple estates can be joined into one proceeding in Oklahoma.
Usually, an probate order will cover property discovered after the closing of the probate. This is generally done by an affidavit. If that is missing, it may be possible to reopen the probate.
Speaking generally of Oklahoma law here.
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