Drilling without a lease

Colorado Mineral Rights Weld County, CO
1

Apparently a certain oil company was not aware of the fact that my family owned the mineral rights when they drilled a well on our right. The permit in fact states that the land owner and the mineral right owner is the same, which is really not the case.

A landman working for this company found us, and requested to lease our land. We (the family) hired an attorney to go over the lease. He suggested some changes, the landman was going to incorporate those changes into the lease, then send us all new leases to sign. It has been almost 2 months now and no leases are forthcoming.

He has however communicated with us telling us that he has been assigned to a "priority project" and he simply didn't have time to get our leases out right now. There are also some heirship issues, which he thought he could get the company to resolve those to their satisfaction, but now he says his boss has gone back on that and doesn't want to sign leases until the heirship issues are resolved. We all have birth certificates showing that the proper people are our parents, we have death certificates for them all, but they all died without a will. We do have signed leases from past transactions, which seems to me makes it very clear who the owners are, but they don't seem to think that is good enough......

The well is not a huge producer and we cannot afford to hire an attorney etc to probate the thing where there is nothing to probate....any suggestions for us?

2

I had similar issues, but in North Dakota. Maybe a bit easier than yours. I found a good attorney and got it all straight, but I did have companies tell me they would be willing to help me if I signed with them. Might try and find a competitor and see if they will help? Not sure how that works exactly. I have minerals in Weld, but don't have much going on. Good luck.

3

Hi Hanna,

I'd be keen to visit with you about your minerals. Our company has taken a recent interest in Weld County and we'd be interested to buy/lease your minerals depending on the situation. If you're open to it let's exchange emails or speak on the phone. Look forward to hearing back.

Best,

Will

4

Hanna this may be helpful.

Bob

"If a deceased died more than 3 years ago, the estate transfer is treated as if there is no will. One must then utilize the "determination of heirship process" set forth in CRS 15-12-1301 et seq.

5

Hello Hanna: If you haven't resolved this please contact me. You may benefit from completing an Affidavit of Death and Heirship which will help you and the other members of your family establish their mineral rights.

6

An Affidavit of Death an Heirship may solve your problem. Contact me if you have any questions.