What mistakes can be made?

I recently had a landman come to see me with a Lease Amendment to sign; a $500.00 bonus

offer to sign it, and a 12.5% royalty offer. I've been told that I should have an attorney look it over before signing. What would the attorney be looking for in order to determine whether the offer is a good one or not. The land they want to drill on is situated in Cove District, Doddridge County, West Virginia. 42 acres owned equally between 14 family members. Is it possible to get an attorney to look at it and advise me as to what my options are without costing thousands of dollars in legal fees? What questions should I be asking the landman who brought this to me so I can make an educated decision on what to do. I'm not being greedy but I don't want to be a pushover and just sign it, when it could affect my children in the future. The more research I do, the more confused I become. PLEASE help.

You should certainly contact a lawyer about this. Kyle Nuttall on this forum has helped several folks on this page with their leases. You are NOT being greedy. You are being wise about looking into the situation before signing anything. Those O&G folks are in it to make money, the last person they are looking out for is you!

http://www.nuttalllegal.com/

The price may have gone down some for the bonuses, but I thought they were higher?

StephanieP, I think Debbie means a lease modification, probably to allow pooling and unitization, is that right Debbie? That amount is about in line with what I have heard for Antero for those, although I have also heard of twice that much. I second StephanieP’s recommendation of Kyle Nuttall. It is always a good idea to have any important document reviewed by an attorney, and he is very experienced in this area.

Yes, have Kyle look at it. I can tell you from experience, never take the first offer. Kyle is very easy to work with and his rates are very reasonable.

Nancy, It does mention Pooling, on the lease amendment (which I don't completely understand the meaning of) so that is one question I'm not sure about. I've heard people say they know mineral right owners who didn't get legal help when signing a lease agreement, and they were sorry later. I don't know what to expect from the oil and gas company as far as royalties or bonus of 500.00 to sign the lease( I don't know if drilling has begun yet or if they are waiting for us to sign on). I wish someone would tell me about some of their experiences, good and bad, so I could learn from them. I was told by the landman, that one of my relatives, who has partial ownership as well, has been talking to an attorney but I don't know if it is one who is knowledgeable in these matters or not. I do plan on contacting Kyle for some help also. I just feel so confused. I want to be able to trust that I won't be taken advantage of but I'm sure these gas people know how clueless we are about these things and would use that in their favor. Thanks everyone. I really appreciate any help you can give! The 42 acres in question, is in Cove District, Doddridge County, West Virginia. Does anyone know what mineral rights are going for in that area, or how active the gas & oil production is there?

Hi Debbie, I just saw this, too late tonight. Unless others reply I’ll write some tomorrow. There is an active lease somewhere for you. If you don’t have a copy, ask the landman to give you the book and page. Read as much as you can on this forum. A lot of good information, just a lot of reading to get to it. There is a database of recent documents for Doddridge in he internet, website is all numbers. Look around, I know it has been written about. Tomorrow whenni am on the computer I can give it to you if you don’t have it by then.

My brother and I signed a lease with Antero in 2011, and we got 42,000.00 signing bonus and they had the check in one hand and the lease in the other, we also got 15%. But then again it was 2011 and prices were better so I am sure that has something to do with it. So maybe what you got today is leget, but I had a landmand who was our neighbor look at everything, so like a lawyer but FREE. So Yes I agree it is a good idea to have someone look at it that knows what they are talking about. ALSO our guy, told us to have Antero take out the DEDUCTS, which was deductions taken off of our cut of the check at the well head, Antero agreed to this, so see this is one simple thing that can be over looked without someone with knowledge looking at it. This was for about 59 acres. It is in the McClean District of Doddridge and as of now they still have not drilled it, they have drilled and are drilling all around it but nothing yet. It is called the Banner Unit if anyone hears anything on it. Thanks so much

Katrina

Katrina, I am assuming you own 100% of your rights?