My mother passed away recently and I am the trustee of her trust.
All her property, with the exception of some mineral rights, were placed into this trust. There is a pour over will as part of the trust, but it does not need to be probated since the trust held all the property. That was before we discovered these rights. The mineral rights are in a McClain County, Ok. A neighboring county to the one I live in.
The heirs consist of myself, my sibling and three grandchildren, one being a minor.
My sibling, my adult children and I agree that we should just sell the mineral rights as they are for 1.5 acres and create more of an accounting headache and tax prep hassle than they are worth and further dividing them seems pointless.
To probate the will will cost more than we are likely to receive in selling the rights.
My goal is to sell the rights then divide the profit as per the trust at as little cost as possible. I understand I may be able to use an “Affidavit of Heirship” as the trustee, this avoiding probate.
I cannot comment on the legal side of things as you may need to either probate the estate or move the minerals into the trust. One of the attorneys on the site may be able to add detail to that piece.
If you know the section, township and range, then I can help with any activity. Have you checked unclaimed funds on the State Treasurer’s site? If your mom was receiving royalties, then the operator needs to be contacted.
for the title to be marketable, you will need to probate your mother’s estate as to the 1.5 net acres that are not in the trust.
Someone may purchase them without a probate.
You may have royalties so capture them before selling. You may also have to probate the will in order to claim them as you need clear title. Tim can comment on that.
There is a currently producing well called the Rockwood 6N 1W 31 1HX. The surface location of the well is in section 29 but ends in section 6. BP drilled the well, but it has been sold to Limerock. You will need to contact them to see what title documents they require.
California Estate and Probate attorney. If the decedent was a California resident at time of death the non-trust asset would need to be probated if it had a value at time of death of more than $166,250.00.
Thank you for pointing that out Todd. I have to question any attorney purporting to be Estate and Probate in CA weighing in with an irrelevant comment on an OK issue.