I have taken over my Mother’s leases since we had to put her in assisted living. To make a long story short about organizing and locating unpaid leases, I found a lease in Brooks County, Texas that had stopped paying. After much dectective work with merging companies, I tracked down the new operater. The well had been owned by TGX (who went out of business); the new company is Antinum. They have a small company dispersing the funds. The lady dispersing the funds indicated they had found the funds by saying OMG 5 times and could not believe how much was suspended (my Dad had been a part of an executive override plan and there are others in this group). I was first told they would only carve out my mother’s piece of the funds and then I was told they were too busy to do it as the lease was going up for sell. Then I was told the wells were going to auction; it has been over 5 weeks and they have quit responding to me. Do I have any recourse? And should those wells really be going to auction?
I think you need an O & G lawyer. OMG, OMG,OMG,OMG, probably wouldn’t come from the mouth of someone who didn’t see a colossal screwup, which was their fault, or could be construed to be their fault. Good luck getting paid.
I agree 100% that you should hire a lawyer specializing in Oil and Gas ASAP. The issue that comes to my mind is how long the interest has been in suspense. In Texas, if the company has tried to pay the lessor and has been unable to reach them (lack of forwarding address, death with probate not completed, or simply a few checks go un-deposited etc) they will put the interest in suspense for inability to locate the owner. If this continues for a period of 7 years, the suspended funds escheat to the State of Texas. Of course, the company gets to retain the interest earned on the suspended funds during that time period so they are not real motivated to actively search out the owners of the suspended interests. If you have in fact located the operator of the suspended interest, I would begin by sending them a letter, signed by your father or his authorized representative (attorney in fact or otherwise) by certified mail that your father is the owner of the interest, provide current address, lease dates and descriptions, SS # etc and demand that any and all funds held in suspense for your father, from whatever source, be released and paid to him immediately. At a minimum, this will serve to interrupt any escheat timeline and preserve your fathers rights. There is a good possibility that there are other W.I. owners that also have funds in suspense for your father. An attorney can help you locate any other possible owners.
You might want to try to contact the other owners that were also in this executive ORRI group to determine if they are being paid accurately, and if so by which companies. This could be a valuable source of information for you, or it could be that you provide them with a previously unknown issue. It could be the whole group has their interests in suspense.
Good Luck
Welcome to MRF Billie,
By all means, I would, if possible, have my attorney rush to finish the papers necessary to claim the money owed you. Also, if possible, I would hand carry them to the place that is supposed to be distributing funds. It's very hard to ignore someone standing in front of you, and it doesn't sound like you know when the auction is. You have little or NO time to waste. Just a kind word from someone who has had similar trouble in the past.
Yours,
Wes Luke
Thank you for your replies and support. I am getting the other interest owners together to hire an O&G lawyer and will immediately send my parents information to the operator by certified mail.
Again thank you,
Billie
Hi Billie,
You are very welcome. Again the forum was able to help someone in the right direction.
Wishing you the very best of luck.
Wes Luke
Hi Billie,
Well, it's been more than two weeks now since your last message. Has this resolved itself? Please let us know how you did with it.
Yours,
Wes Luke
I followed everyone's advice and mailed a certified letter to Atinum and never heard from them (at least I sent a start date for this project of Feb. 13, 2011). However, the dispursing company called me (because a friend works there) and said that since the wells had been sold in April, I was not going to get my portion of OMG 5 times; the wells have been sold to D90 Energy. I was told the money was still in suspense and that this next company now has it. So I am starting over with another company. At least I have the good advice of this forum and I am getting the other members of the EORRI together so that we can approach this next company as a "unit".
I have several more leases I am try to wrestle my royalties from and I am sure you will hear from me at some point. Again, thanks for all your help.
Warmest regards,
Billie
Kudos to you, Billie. I’m wishing you all the best with your endeavor. May you make more money than Bill Gates. : )
I am back. Antinum who orginally had the suspended funds still has them and a stack of documentation to choke a horse. D90 is being sent the same documentation. There is now a group of 7 of us ( I contacted everyone in the EORRI program). We have an unpaid tax bill and suit for back taxes from Brooks county Texas and have that on hold as well as another tax bill that just came in. We have $1500 total in back taxes and would be willing to pay them if the company holding our funds would release them. They are now not responding to my calls and emails. We have sent certified letters and had an attorney call. What is the next step, the attorney is a member of our group? I feel like my hands are tied at this point and have jumped through every possible hoop known to mankind.
We will hate to get involved with a lot of legal fees if this company does not even intend on paying our royalties (or cannot).
Again thank you in advance for your comments,
Billie
Can anyone suggest a good oil and gas lawyer who has dealt with fraud?