Hello, I inherited some mineral rights from my father. I knew he had some but when he became ill I simply forgot about them. After his death, I began to receive several offers in the mail wanting to buy or lease these mineral rights. There are about 6 wells in 3 different counties, I guess. I got all the legal paper together and have successfully added my name to my dad's in the counties that these wells appear to be in. I sent that information to one of the firms offering a lease and have received a division order back. My question is, in order to do this right should I hire a "landman"? I have descriptions on some of the wells. Do I need to go to Texas and negotiate the final terms? I don't know how many he mineral rights had? I live in New Mexico. Where do I start? Please help? Thanks Sheron
Dear Ms. Woodard,
You might want to proceed with extreme caution on quickly disposing of mineral rights to people who wait for a death to send out unsolicited offers. Their wish is to hope for a quick purchase, hoping that the estate needs to convert assets into cash.
An inventory of the wells and value should be included in the estate proceedings. As to where you start, the following is a general plan of action:
Detemine the nature of the rights and the magnitude.
Determine the extent of the rights.
Determine what mineral rights are in production.
Determine planned or hoped for future activity in and around the leased and/or unleased acreage.
Determine a price that you would be willing to dispose the assets for, after discounting cash flow on producing property and on non producing properties, a mineral value and whether you want to sell all or a portion of the asset either as a perpetual sale or a term conveyance.
That's non-responsive. She wants to know if she can tackle all of that herself, or if she should hire a "landman"?
"My question is, in order to do this right, should I hire a "landman"?
Should she?
ok, davie boy. your response to me was non-responsive to her question, along with some other things that I could think of.
She had several questions. You picked one.
I will certainly not tell her what to do. Only a moron would attempt to do so, so feel free to answer her questions. I do not see how you can answer her question like a professional, since you do not know the offers or anything about it.
Depending on the properties, she may be better served by hiring a reservoir engineer. But hiring an engineer was not the question was it? It may well be part of the solution to her problem.
So take a guess on yes or no to all of her questions and see if you can be part of her solution.
Dave Quincy said:
That's non-responsive. She wants to know if she can tackle all of that herself, or if she should hire a "landman"?
"My question is, in order to do this right, should I hire a "landman"?
Should she?
Lil Buddy,
You still miss her question. So, she shouldn't hire a landman?
I feel sorry for her. At least on Jon's question, the guy you felt sorry for, even though he expressed heartfelt gratitude for the replys, I was able to flush out all of the facts of the case. I had to battle other posters who kept trying to present the facts as they didn't exist, and put words in his mouth, but eventually Jon was satisfied with the ultimate answer.
What are you advising her to do? She specified that her question was whether or not she should hire a "landman"? The other information that she laid out was just preliminary, or background type info. It is true that she has a few closing questions, but they too are predicated on the need to do things "right". What would you advise?
What part of "I will certainly not tell her what to do." are you having a problem with? Is this the way all landmen who are from Pennsylvania act?
Again, you are avoiding her problem and want to provoke people. I will not play your childish game. Never respond to anything that I write, ever again, OK? I promise the same, beginning right now. You are dead to me.
Lil Buddy,
You should start being more polite and more responsive. Is this the way all landmen from Orange act?
This board will lose it's value and appeal if people don't be more responsive to the questions. I don't how many times I had to tell the guys on Jon's thread that Jon never received an Order for Payment. When Jon himself finally verified that he did not, I guess they finally believed me. To me, Jon had articulated that fact very well. I guess landmen are by profession, more detail oriented. They snap to things faster when they first read them.
Don't get mad at me Lil Buddy.
I actually think that you can do better than that. In fact, I agreed with your advice to Jon regarding legal counsel.
Should Sheron hire a landman? Lil Buddy?
You are alive to me.
hahaha Dave's response is classic!
Sheron, sign into the different counties the minerals are in to first see if you can get an idea of what's going on in there.
There is a lot to learn, so don't let anyone pressure you or confuse you, just go slow and first, find out exactly what you have and what's going on in the area before you do anything! You can find a wealth of information here, so you've come to the right place and there's great people here that are willing to take the time to help you find the answers you're looking for!
Best to you!!
Dave,
It appears to me that Buddy was being helpful and answering Ms. Woodard's question without telling her what to do. He gave her a laundry list that he deemed important for her to figure out before she made any decisions. Should she hire a landman, or attorney, or reservoir engineer, or talk to a few county clerks? If she can't answer all of Buddy's questions on her own, she might need to. If she answered the first question of "Determine the nature of the rights and the magnitude." with I own a 1/16th NPRI to 5 acres in Midland Co. and a few other small interests that give her a royalty check of $20 a month - She might answer her own question and not need a $300+ a day landman.
I guess it's hard for Buddy or anyone to know whether or not she "needs a landman" until we know more about the scope of what she owns and the nature of the interests.
If you don't have anything to add that will help the poster out, don't post.
Thanks Kaye. You know what I am going to do now? Go have a toast to George Jones. No, George wouldn't just settle for one
Who the hell is from Pennsylvania?
I'll also have one for Lil Buddy. I wish he would calm down, and not take out all his personal problems on me.
That's enough of the bickering back and forth. Please get back to the topic at hand. Most of the responses now provide little or no help in regard to the original question.
Please review our User Policy as well. We require respect between users no matter how good or bad their answers might be. If this continues, you will be subject to a one week suspension from the forum.
P.S. If you have a problem with someone's answer, you can private message them or you can provide the answer you think is appropriate.
I know Dave, have one on me too because, it shouldn't be this complicated to answer Sheron's question!! This forum is going to drive me to drink, too!! heehee
Dave Quincy said:
Thanks Kaye. You know what I am going to do now? Go have a toast to George Jones. No, George wouldn't just settle for one
Who the hell is from Pennsylvania?
I'll also have one for Lil Buddy. I wish he would calm down, and not take out all his personal problems on me.
Sheron,
I hope we haven't ran you off!! Believe me, on the most part, we are a fun loving group!! Of course, nobody can tell you what to do, but you might want to let us know the Section, Township and Range the minerals are in so that in the event someone has mineral's nearby they can help you!
Again, please, don't go anywhere just yet ... there's a lot of knowledgeable people here that may be able to help you sort things out!
Sheron,
If you received a division order, it probably means that tract is already leased. You have to sign a lease or inherit minerals under lease to be sent a division order.
If they are asking you to sign a lease, you can hire a landman to negotiate the lease, but should probably have an attorney look it over before signing, or you can have the attorney do both.
Mr. Cotten's first response appeared to contain some very good information and was responsive. I have no knowledge in this area but if and when my mineral rights are in question this is the kind of first response I would like to see. The remainder of the post became a pissing contest and did not help Ms. Woodward in the least. If this was my situation I would discuss it with a knowledgeable attorney and possibly hire a land man to determine the inventory etc. before I responded to or addressed a company wanting to buy or lease the minerals.
"I have no knowledge in this area but if and when my mineral rights are in question this is the kind of first response I would like to see" ...
Please, save it!!
Larry C. Ober said:
Mr. Cotten's first response appeared to contain some very good information and was responsive. I have no knowledge in this area but if and when my mineral rights are in question this is the kind of first response I would like to see. The remainder of the post became a pissing contest and did not help Ms. Woodward in the least. If this was my situation I would discuss it with a knowledgeable attorney and possibly hire a land man to determine the inventory etc. before I responded to or addressed a company wanting to buy or lease the minerals.
Sheron,
I will tell you the truth about where to start as a new mineral owner. Job one: DO NOT SIGN ANYTHING until you have spent hours, days and weeks educating yourself about leases, division orders, deeds, and the history of the mineral rights you inherited from your father. Unfortunately, the world is full of people who want to relieve you of those rights as cheaply as possible, or get you to pay them handsomely for advice . Please believe: landmen are not your friend, attorneys are not your friend, strangers on the internet are not your friend and "investors" who send letters offering to buy your minerals are most definitely not your friend.
Job Two: NEVER SELL YOUR MINERAL RIGHTS even if you are desperate for money.
Now, where to start. You need to find out exactly where your minerals are, how much acreage you are heir to, what oil companies are active in your area and how much other leaseholders there are getting for their minerals. Any offers you get from leasing companies will be lowball offers, and you must negotiate from an informed position of strength. Finding the correct oil company to lease with is important too.
You may be able to search records at the county courthouse online, or you may have to take a trip there unless you want to pay a landman big bucks to research it for you.
Here is a link to a searchable google group where you can get a lot of useful information. It is mostly specific to the Bakken in North Dakota but many of the issues discussed will be relevant to your case as well.
https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!forum/bakken-shale-discussion
Good Luck!
Dogbert ... Very Good! Clear and right to the point!!
I feel the same way about financial advisers.
Never invest in Western Sizzlin Steakhouses in Calcutta, India.