Forgive me in advance for such a lengthy post…
Question: Is a Mineral / Royalty Deed beneficial/necessary based on the situations presented below? Why or why not. Is there a better solution?
Situation 1) My father owns surface and mineral rights on 22 acres conveyed to him deed from seller to buyer(dad) He receives a royalty check associated with the 22 acres that lists 8 different gas wells .
He is preparing a trust for his estate which specifies his children will inherit equal shares of the 22 acres.
Is it necessary to create and file a mineral deed for the 22 acres to include within the trust? In the future if they are severed will the deed be valid?
Situation 2) My father’s grandmother owned 117 acres. She sold it in 1950 and retained 1/2 mineral rights stated in the deed conveying ownership from grantor (g’ma) to grantee .
She passed, had a will , which did not mention the mineral asset, but was probated.
Her daughter/mother of my father inherited her fractional portion of the mineral rights conveyed according to the Texas laws of descent and distribution .
She died , did not mention the mineral rights in the will plus the will was never probated.
In the 80’s three leases were negotiated by the surface owner. NPRI royalties on one lease was “paid” to an acct in the name the grandmother and the other to his mother which ended up suspense due to no address,
One company performed it’s due diligence, located my father and paid his the fractional interest according to Texas laws of descent and Distribution.
30 years later my father discovered unclaimed property in his mother and g’mother’s name . They were the escheated royalties that had accumulate in the suspense accounts from the other leases.
In order to claim he had to satisfy Title/chain of ownership/ heirship requirements by Compiling and submit documents for g’mother ,mother, and heirs of theirs who had died = prepare and file affidavits of heirship, obtain birth and death certificates, probated wills, list of names and contact info for legal heirs ) A year later he successful satisfied the requirements and downline heirs were paid.
The wells have since been plugged.
?? My question - Would it be beneficial to have a Royalty Deed drawn up for the 117 acres and filed? My thoughts are the deed can be transfer to his heirs vs relying on the Tx laws of D&D. And if by chance there is ever another lease, it would prevent descendents from having to go through document compilation process my father did to prove heirship.
Thank you in advance for your time and advice.