Imagine for a moment that you have an Estate Probate/Final Order that contains an additional amount of mineral interest for a specific section of land (in this case, McClain County, Oklahoma).
You e-mail the Estate Probate/Final Order to two oil companies, both of whom have wells in that specific section. One company accepts the Estate Probate without question, and they issue you a new Division Order detailing your newly-acquired mineral interest for all their wells in that section, along with a check for funds held in suspense–even going back as much as four years.
But the other company claims they have no records that you inherited any such mineral interest, and they act as if the relative(s) that you inherited the mineral interest from don’t even exist. They demand that you prove that your relative(s) owned mineral interest in that section, even after a state Judge has signed off on the Estate Probate as being accurate.
Why (or how) does such a stark discrepancy exist between two oil companies for the very same section, and how do you go about determining why one oil company believes you and accepts the Estate Probate, yet the other acts like you’re a liar (when you know you’re not)?
Is it possible to politely ask the oil company that accepted the Estate Probate to please send you a copy of whatever document or evidence they use to determine you are indeed a legitimate inheritor–which you could then send to the disbelieving oil company?
Any help on this frustrating issue is much appreciated!
This is not that uncommon.
OC1 probably had a more recent title opinion done where they found the transfer from grandma to parent. OC2 has probably never been provided that document.
The fact that the court in a probate proceeding said the decedent owned something, doesn’t give much value. To give the interest to the decedent and his/her heirs, OC2 has to take it away from somebody. Who would that be.
Assume that E is now the present owner and D was the decedent. I would ask OC2 if they show D, C, B or A in title. Then you know where to start.
You can ask OC1 for a document, but unless you can determine who gets debited, so you can be credited, it won’t have much value.
Perhaps the 2nd companies wells dont encompass the property in which your heirs owned due to depths or allocation? A probate court order only looks at the mineral interests and the clear cut facts ie Joe Blow owned this interest in Section _, they dont veer off into the weeds to determine funds held in supsense for years since they were not “taxable” at the time. I would ask the company thats not on board if the heir(s) in question were listed as curative or unknown heirs on the title opinion and go from there.
Try sending a Certified Letter, return receipt requested to the companies Legal Department and also a copy to the Land Department. I had to do this with a pipeline construction project with Energy Transfer. It worked wonders.
The attorney who handled the probate should be able to reach out to the recalcitrant company. While not necessarily right, attorney letters tend to go to the top of heap.
Also, be sure to check unclaimed property for ancestors.
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Company 2 has told you the issue. They do not find the person/estate in their pay deck; therefore, the transfer that you have requested is not effective. There can be many reasons for this: the probate attorney accepted a property description without the confirmation of ownership, there may be a title defect that will require you to to link the estate to a previous owner or name of the interest. @Richard_Winblad makes a wise suggestion as does @tim_dowd and @Bob77. Unfortunately, it is now up to you to investigate the title issues. Good luck.
Thanks James–I’m starting with the advice from @Richard_Winblad and will go from there. I’ve contacted my legal counsel that processed the Estate Probate in regards to following this up somehow; or at least letting me know what their suggestion might be.