My elderly mother had seven different parcels of mineral rights in two southern Oklahoma counties. I purchased them from her in December. Contracted with an attorney to create new deeds, the deeds were created, signed in front of a notary and sent to the county clerks offices where they have been legally recorded. I contacted the oil companies involved, asked them what they needed to change the ownership and quickly sent copies of the new deeds showing change of ownership and court clerk recording stickers. Long story short, none have changed the ownership yet. Two say its in the works and one just refuses to acknowledge the change of ownership saying their legal department has issues with the new deeds. I even had another attorney look at the deeds and he sees no issues.
Are these oil companies always so difficult to work with? Can I expect this long, drawn out battle from all of them?
My experience is that is many companies take 90 to 120 days to change ownership records. Partly to be careful that deed was signed by current owner and partly because they are really busy. As to the third deed, you need to find out exactly what the issue is. It may be a typo in the legal description differ from their records, such as SW/4 SW/4 vs SW/4 SE/4. Or it may be that there is a title issue from the past. Unfortunately, there were some companies which changed records by such things as seeing a will which was never probated. Years later, a legal review requires that title be correctly established. If you cannot get an answer by email, send a certified letter, perhaps even signed by both you and your mother, asking for a response to be sent to your email. A request from an attorney may get a faster response.
Maybe send or have your attorney to send a Certified Return Receipt Requested to both the land department and the legal department. This usually get’s the “ball rolling” pretty fast. If your Mother was already being paid on production the leases then that should not be a problem about any probates or such. Especially if you bought them legally from her. This kinda BS is usually a tactic to stall for time. Stay on them! Good Luck.
Dont know who the opererator is nor when in December you bought them, but many operators run 3-4 months behind on pay, so checks this month likely cover your moms interest she owned in December.
Whats the issue with the 3rd deed? Did you hire an experienced oil and gas attorney to prepare the deeds? Could be a problem with the title before you bought the minerals, but just guessing in the dark