RW - Thank you for answering all of my questions and for explaining everything to me. How would I perform a quiet title action? Would I need to hire an attorney? I have been talking with two North Dakota attorneys about probating my late mother's mineral rights. One of them told me that I will need a deed. Are you saying that I shouldn't spend any money on an attorney to do a probate until there is oil production?
I am saying that the operators title people probably have not finished their title examination and at this moment may not be able to tell you exactly what they want you to do.
If you have a deed in your name recorded in the recorders office, you will have marketable title and the operator/oil company will need to pay you or they will owe you interest, 1.5% a month, 18% a year, until they do.
If you want to be proactive and have your title ready, you need to know if your aunts estate was probated in ND. If your aunts estate was not probated in ND, I suggest a quiet title action rather than 2 probates. The end result, the goal of probates or a quiet title action would be a deed in your name.
Mary, you would need a lawyer to do a quiet title action just as you would need one for each probate. If you have two estates that have not been probated, quiet title would save time and money. If you needed to probate your aunts estate, your mom's probate would have to wait on your aunts probate. Quiet title would handle both at the same time. Time is money when you are paying lawyers
RW - Thank you so much for your answers. I'm going to ask the attorney about doing a quiet title action and I'll let you know what they say.
Mary, first you need to know if your aunts estate was probated in ND.
RW - Is there a way that I can find that out without a North Dakota attorney? She died in Minnesota and her estate was not probated there. An attorney looked it up for me. It was simple - he just looked it up on his computer. My aunt was the original owner and somehow her mineral rights got divided up between several relatives. I don't think they were divided correctly. If they were probated in ND will it show how they were divided up? Thanks for your help.
Mary, you could try a subscription to the North Dakota Recorders Information Network NDRIN. It costs $25 per month but you can cancel before the next month so it does not become a recurring charge. They take credit cards. If aunts estate were probated in ND, it should be recorded. If it happened in the last 20 years, it should be in the electronic, easily searchable records.
If anyone were on the ball at all, even if the probate were performed in another county it should be crossreferenced by the legal description of the minerals and findable in Billings county records. I would still search by name, county by county if you do not find a probate immediately in Billings county records. The Minnesota lawyer probably used the equivalent service to search Minnesota records. If you get an NDRIN subscription, you have a whole month so be through in your search and then cancel the subscription.
RW - Thank you for your advice. My aunt died in 1979. Since it was so long ago would it be difficult for me to find out any information? Do you know if the records would show only that her estate was probated or would it also include the details of the probate? I need to know all of the details. Thank you.
Mary, the final order may be in many locations and would probably lead you to the location where the probate could be found in it's entirety. Much depends on if there were a will. If there were no will, the property should have been divided according to the laws of intestacy in the state in which your aunt resided at time of her death. Mary, if the probate of your aunts estate did not happen for years after her death, there is still a chance it could be found in the electronic records. I did not probate my fathers estate for 12 years because there was no need. When the need arose, I probated his estate.
RW - Thank you for helping me with this complicated situation. When my aunt died (she was actually my great aunt) she died in Minnesota. The Minnesota attorney I spoke with here in Minnesota could not find that her estate was probated here. I do not think that she had a will. She had three siblings - two living sisters and a deceased brother. Her mineral rights should have been divided up in equal thirds to her siblings. One of my great aunt's sisters was my grandmother. She was living at the time when my great aunt died so she should have received one third of the mineral rights. I have a copy of my grandmother's will (a copy - not the original) and my grandmother left all of her property to my mother so my mother should have received the one third share of mineral rights that should have been left to my grandmother when my grandmother died. That one third share has been divided up between my mother and her three brothers. The attorney here in Minnesota said that if there was a mistake I could possibly go back to court and try to change things. It seems that I first need to know where the estate was probated and how the division of the mineral rights was determined. You say that since my great aunt died in Minnesota her estate should have probated in Minnesota but it was not. I'm wondering if it would be best for me to pursue this matter with a Minnesota attorney or with a North Dakota attorney. Like you say with attorneys time is money and this could get to be costly. But if I could go back and change the way the mineral rights were distributed I would be entitled to one third of them because they would have gone to my mother who is now deceased and I am my mother's only living child.
Mary, time is rarely on your side in legal matters. It's hard to believe that a court would want to go back 33 years and make changes. Even if a fraud were comitted the statute of limitations would have run out long ago. Your grandmothers estate, if I understand correctly, is where you think things went wrong. You may have to consult with a lawyer from the state your grandmother resided in to see if anything can be done about it at all. Residency has much to do with it, different states have different intestacy laws.
so currently the lease is with Continental. By phone one guy said 2000 per acre and 20% now another guy by email is saying 1500 and 3/16%. When I told him that Bull and Bear resources offered 2000 and 20% he replied "there is strong posssibility that there will be a well drilled before the current lease expires and those acres will be held by production. I am sure Bull and Bear know this and are willing to chance it"..........what does he mean by that?
Janine never play poker with those Continental guys. What he didn't tell you was there is a well spud already in section 18. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, you are not going to get to lease again unless you have a fantastic lease where nothing but production will save the lease for the lessee. On the bright side you are getting a well.
Hi RW, I am sorry to be so dense but what does that mean? thanks for the info.
Janine, here is the data on the well just spudded on your mineral acres. Spud date was Monday March 17th.
NDIC File No: 27583 API No: 33-007-01819-00-00 County: BILLINGS
Well Type: ON CONFIDENTIAL STATUS
Location: NENW 18-141-99 Footages: 200 FNL 1980 FWL Latitude: 47.037443 Longitude: -103.277958
Current Operator: CONTINENTAL RESOURCES, INC.
Original Operator: CONTINENTAL RESOURCES, INC.
Current Well Name: DUNKIRK 1-18AH1
Original Well Name: DUNKIRK 1-18AH1
Elevation: 2745 GL
Field: ST. DEMETRIUS
Spud Date(s): 3/17/2014
Thank you, what does spud mean in regards to lease? Continental said well drilled on sec 19 before lease is up (april). what in your opinion are the lease rites worth?
Janine, This well is located in section 18, and will go horizontal into section 19, so it will tie up both your mineral acre sections.
Whatever total number of "net" mineral acres you hold from these two sections, will be the deciding factor of what your division order #s when/if they produce oil from it.
I have no idea what the value worth of these minerals are, perhaps someone with minerals in this area or nearby would have a better idea to their value.
spud-to the best of my knowledge is where they send in a crew to dig the spot where the rig will be placed for drilling. if they're spudding a location, its within hours/days of actual drilling.
this will hold your minerals by production, so you are not likely to get another lease offer as long as it continues to produce. that could mean decades; or less if it would have issues, or had very poor production and producer would abandon it.
This well will be on the confidential list until Sept 17th, so you won't know the full details until then. If they get production before that and sell it, they will post the oil runs prior to coming off confidential.
Snues: thank you so much for the info. Very helpful
Hello all,
To spud a well is to start drilling the well. So named because a "Spudder" bit is used which is suitable for drilling loose soil, clays and gravels. This first hole to be drilled with the actual drilling rig is usually 18 3/4" or larger in diameter and it is drilled deep enough to install surface casing to which the blowout preventer is attached after cementing in around between the hole and the surface casing.
Prior to the when the actual drilling rig is moved in, operators usually hire a small rig to drill a 30"+/- diameter hole 50' +/- deep in which a big diameter culvert is installed to prevent the actual drilling rig from washing out the surface soils when they start drilling for the surface pipe installation.
The surface pipe hole is drilled deep enough to protect all fresh water bearing intervals and cement is circulated between the hole and the surface pipe to seal off those intervals.
Jerry
Hello, question about a mineral deed. Okay my mother passed away, my siblings and myself got the final probate deed etc....shows description of the land etc..so then we contact OXY who is the current lease company to transfer ownership and one of the sections they are leasing is not listed on the probate papers? We do have a 2012 statement from OXY showing it in my mothers name and listing the section that is missing as well as a section that was mentioned in the probate papers? Would the lawyer that handled the probate have known about all sections or do they do a search or something? thanks
Janine, if you told the lawyer what you have and did not ask him to do a search, he might have took you at your word.