A company is working on a proposed lease for my wife’s mineral rights in Hopkins County Texas. In some info they provided with regards to the various owners in the land, they have a statement that the interest is unleased. Where is there a record of the fact that the mineral rights are leased or unleased? In other words, is there somewhere we could look and see all of the leased mineral rights for Hopkins county?
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Leases are recorded in the county courthouse where the minerals are located. Many counties have online access. www.TexasFlle.com is one resource for many counties in Texas.
Thanks for the info.
Maybe you know the answer to this as well. If a will does not get probated, where would there be a record of the mineral interest that was inherited by the heirs. Thanks in advance.
That would be for an attorney to answer. One would probably have to work on a title search in each county. Clear title has to be proved in order to get paid royalties. Best to get a will probated to keep that clean title chain.
Thanks. It appears that my wife’s grandfather’s will was not probated (or at least I cannot find record) and all of his immediate heirs are deceased so no one to ask. Thanks for you for your help. It looks like the interest is so small it is not worth hiring a lawyer.
You might just continue and let the proposed company unravel it through their title searcher tracking the deed.
We probably will do that. The only issue is that several years ago we received an offer for a lease and the ownership from the current company is completely different. We are not sure who has or had the correct interest.
You should ask the company to give you its run as to how it is calculating ownership. First, what did Grandfather own - e.g. 1/2 minerals in 100 acres = 50 NMA. Without any probate, then ownership will pass in accordance with Texas intestacy statute. Was this Grandfather’s separate property or joint? Was Grandmother already deceased? Assuming separate and Grandmother deceased, to his children in equal shares, eg 4 children, then each got 1/8 x 100 = 12.5 NMA. Did wife’s parent have probated will or was also intestate? That will determine how 12.5 NMA is owned by wife and other children or owned by parent’s spouse and children. Your wife should set out family tree, from her grandfather down to her. It will also be affected by whether or not Grandfather’s children died married or single, and without or without children (wife’s cousins) and with probate or intestate. As you can see, this gets complicated and the prospective lessee may have good or bad assumptions about the generations.
Thank. Yes, I have all that logic. Real issue is the starting acres. Can only find about 50% of documentation that I need to substantiate the starting acres. Each firm we have dealt with have different starting acres.
Determination of the exact gross and net acreage requires ownership run from sovereignty forward through the deed records. You can also run backwards from Grandfather. Not all counties are fully online and it takes a trip to the courthouse. sometimes grantor and grantee names are misspelled or only one of several grantees are listed. And deeds can be misinterpreted or missed by someone running the records. Or the corporation owner merged into another company and merger was not filed in deed records. Or the leasing agent may figure it will be finalized by attorney doing drilling tittle opinion. Basically, you can accept the net acres calculated, run title yourself or hire a landman to do this. Ask the leasing agent if he will share his run and assumptions. Be sure to get copies of every deed for your files. You are not alone in facing the question of ownership when records have been lost or discarded over the years or no one has filed probate. It leaves later generation to do the work. Maybe your wife and cousins can get together to do this.
Thanks for your help.