First of all thank you for the help on my previous question. Now on taking over my Grandmothers estate, should I contact every producer that has an operating well (surface & bottom hole) in a section that she has mineral interest?
You said “taking over”. If that is by inheritance, then make sure that the will has been probated in the county of her residence. Then you will need copies filed in the other counties where she has mineral acreage. Quite a few threads on the forum about that.
Then you do need to contact each company that has been paying royalties and inform them of the new heirs. They will probably need copies of the probate documents. If she has horizontal wells, then she may not have both the surface and bottom hole location (or either). Make sure you put together a good list of all of her properties, both producing and non-producing. Now would be a good time to try and find all of the wills, trusts, probate, deeds, leases, division orders and any papers that prove ownership.
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My Grandmothers probate should be final Aug 5th, I’ve already been appointed personal representative with letter of testamentary and a few other things and have nine packets about ready to mail out to companies. Since my mom and Aunt have both passed also I have put together all three’s paperwork including paperwork for all the heirs which hopefully will make it easier for my siblings and cousins to complete. I have contacted a few companies and they said yes that they have been holding money for a while and others have sent monies to the state unclaimed dept. I’ve had conflicting advice on contacting every producer so thank you for your help. Still a little confused on how it’s determined if you should get royalties on a bottom hole or not but I think I’ll get there. Again thank you for your Huge Help!
How the companies will respond will depend greatly on how the minerals were owned.
Trust: If the interests were owned by a trust there are some steps that need to be taken identifying who the current serving trustee. Then the trust rules are to be followed regarding distribution or management.
Non-Trust: if the property was not held in a trust you will likely need a probate. The court case is filed in one county. Once the order distributing the estate if issued copies are filed in the additional counties where the minerals are located. This can usually be done without the need for the estate representative to travel to Oklahoma or make court appearances.
On the royalty side (depends upon the state) but usually you only get paid on the minerals where the well has perforations. Quite often, a surface location may not be in the section or tract where the perforations are for a long horizontal. When you get to that point, folks can walk you through it.
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