Married to lady who inherited property with mineral rights. We were married before her inheritence. I know the mineral rights are hers, but as her husband do I have any right to a share?
Comments are appreicated.
Nick
Nick,
From what you have described, you really have no rights to the minerals. They would be considered your wife's separate property. There are many various situations that could happen should your wife pass away without a will (depending on what family members are around), but if you have children, they would inherit the rights with you receiving a 1/3 Life Estate to the rights. I hope this helps.
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This depends on the state(s) where the mineral rights are located. Where are they?
Andrew said:
This depends on the state(s) where the mineral rights are located. Where are they?
Texas, comunity property state.
You will not have any standing to sign a lease, or ownership in the property, unless it is your homestead, in which your joiner will be required in order for the Lessee to have an operable lease.
I have a similar question to Nick's only I'm wondering if my mineral properties would become community property in the case of divorce. The minerals are in Colorado and we live in North Dakota. I inherited them after being married a couple years.
Buddy Cotten said:
You will not have any standing to sign a lease, or ownership in the property, unless it is your homestead, in which your joiner will be required in order for the Lessee to have an operable lease.
There are 10 community property states and Colorado is not on the list. To protect yourself, talk to a probate lawyer in Colorado.
Doug Carney said:
I have a similar question to Nick's only I'm wondering if my mineral properties would become community property in the case of divorce. The minerals are in Colorado and we live in North Dakota. I inherited them after being married a couple years.
Buddy Cotten said:You will not have any standing to sign a lease, or ownership in the property, unless it is your homestead, in which your joiner will be required in order for the Lessee to have an operable lease.
My husband has ownership in a section of minerals that we're received through a trust. The trust documents however do not mention the minerals specifically, it only mentions the surface in 200 acres in this section. Does that mean that the minerals are still in the trust or not?? Please any input would be appreciated. These are located in Texas.
As a general rule, in Texas anything one inherits is considered his or her separate property, with the spouse's only interest coming through a joinder if the property becomes the married couple's homestead, as Buddy stated. There are a few situations in which the separate property becomes community property. One is where a spouse conveys the oil-and-gas interest to himself and his spouse as their community property, but that is extremely rare. Other situations MIGHT reclassify the property as community property. One is where a judge considers the property to have become community property when non-separate funds are used to improve the property. Another is where you and your spouse take out a loan with the separate property as collateral. Of course, whatever your spouse says in her Will must be honored, so if she leaves her separate property to you then you will have a share. And even if she has no Will but you are the surviving spouse, then you will be entitled to 1/3 of whatever she had for the rest of your life if she had children (you cannot sell or "alienate" that 1/3 because upon your death that 1/3 would go to them) OR all of whatever she had if she had NO children.
In Texas, a surviving spouse when no will was left gets half of the estate and the children share the other half. This has to be done through the courts.
Not correct, at least not in Texas for real property that was the SEPARATE Property of the Decedent. For a Decedent with a surviving spouse and at least one surviving child or descendant of a child who predeceased Decedent, real property goes to the surviving spouse (1/3 life estate) and the child or children or the descendants thereof (2/3 remainderman), meaning that they divide up the aforementioned 1/3 life estate when Decedent's surviving spouse dies or conveys it to them. The legislative intent is that only the blood heirs of the decedent (to include any adopted child) ultimately benefit from the Decedent's Separate Property.
I cannot recall right this second, but I think that what you said IS true as it pertains to real property that was the COMMUNITY Property of the Decedent after September 1993, but ONLY if the Decedent had a child or children with somebody in addition to the surviving spouse, whether married to that other person or not. In other words, if the only children Decedent had was by the surviving spouse, then the surviving spouse gets the entire Community Estate. Otherwise, the surviving spouse keeps his or her half of the Community Property, and the Decedent's half of the Community Property is divided among his or her descendants, per stirpes.
Technically, you can go "through the courts" without a Will, for simple administration, it's very rare. But no, in the overwhelming number of cases, the division of an Estate without a will is NOT "done through the courts," it is dictated by statute, in this case the Texas Probate Code pertaining to intestate descent and distribution.
I am not sure about a Trust, but in all lesser documents, Will, etc if mineral rights are not mentioned they are not available in the State of Texas.