In early Feb 2023 my father received a check ($110.98) from Legacy Reserves for mineral leases in Shelby County. He was on hospice and passed away the same month. I was not aware that his father had willed him the leases. So far in my research I learned that in 2013 my father received mineral rights in Shelby County from his father and this is the first check he had received. Legacy which is now Revenir has given me information to transfer interests from my father to the heirs which is me and my two other siblings. Using the Mineral Property search I was able to locate for the appraisal year 2013 and my father’s Mineral/owner/number. Is the mineral number his API number? How do I find his API number? This is all new and very confusing. It also listed his Interest Type as the letter R - Can anyone tell me what that means. It looks like the ownership is 0.000007. I was also able to find Field Number and the Oil/Gas ID numbers. Both were Lease name as Doyle Boles Federal with one operator as Marathon Oil company and the other as Legacy Reserves Operation LP. How can I find out how many mineral interests he owns and how many wells that are actually active? Once the will/probate was filed in Shelby County, I have received several letters from companies asking to purchase the leases. Just not familiar with leases and would like help understanding ownership.
Hi, not sure why the reply post was deleted. This is the first time I have posted on this forum.
PS - Shelby county API formats: 42-419-nnnnn
Thank you! That does help.
You ask about finding your father’s API number. API numbers, which stands for American Petroleum Institute, are indentification numbers assigned to wells so there won’t be one for your father. The check you got from Legacy may show an Owner Number but that will only apply within their accounting system. The “R” type interest you mentioned probably refers to a royalty interest. The Shelby County Appraisal District may also have a tax account number for your grandfather’s producing mineral interest.
According to the Railroad Commission, what was originally known as the Doyle Boles Federal Lease is a 674.359 acre pooled unit, and it includes three wells, all producing.
For some reason the name of the Doyle Boles Federal was recently changed to the USA Cothrom Unit. That was done about the same time Legacy changed their name to Revenir, but I don’t see how that would be related.
The original well in the Doyle Boles Federal that was drilled by Marathon in 2010 is called the K 1 H and is API 419-31564. Legacy took over as the operator in 2015.
Legacy completed two more wells in that same 674 acre unit in 2022. One of those is now called the USA Cothrom A12 (API 419-31827), and the other the USA Conthrom A14 (API 419-31828).
On your question about how to find out how many mineral interests your father owns, it may require some research in the Shelby County deed records. If your father inherited mineral interests that were originally owned by his father you need to determine if your grandfather’s estate was probated and if deeds were recorded transferring mineral interests from his estate to your father.
Here’s a link to the County Clerk of Shelby County. http://cc.co.shelby.tx.us/
A note on at site says while their system is being transferred to the internet searchs of their indexes can only be done in the Clerk’s office in Center, Texas, but when you click the above link on the first page that opens click the heading marked Real Estate and it looks like you may be able to do name searches in the deed records. Try checking for things that have been recorded in your grandfather or your father’s name. You may need to do the same thing in other counties where you think that your grandfather might have owned minerals.
Sorry for the loss of your father. I live in Shelby county and have some familiarity there 1) Shelby county appraisal district ‘s website does not give the API usually. The legal description sometimes has the TRRC lease number, which is used by the comptroller for severance tax and production reporting 2). You can search on the Shelby county clerks website for lease information . Look up your father’s and grandfather’s name for oil and gas leases, deeds etc. You can also look up the unit declaration for the Doyle Boles unit to see which lease(s) were pooled. All at http://cc.co.shelby.tx.us/ . 3) Once you have the survey & abstracts you can use the TRRC online GIS to look for nearby wells and also look up the API numbers. But the folks here will help you as much as possible so just take it one step at a time. Also, be sure and check unclaimed funds in their names at the state websitehttps://www.claimittexas.gov/. Post back as you have more questions and I’ll try to help.
That area is now known as the Cothrom A wells, of which there are several laterals. Marathon Doyle Boles was kept active to perpetuate leasehold until the A wells could be drilled. The API number you mention is permit and well no at the Texas Railroad Commission. 227-4193826 you can find the GIS viewer in the RRC website. Search Abstract 493 in Shelby County. The leases were ratified unto the Legacy-Cothrom Federal fieldwide Unit, so your fractional interest is set to the denominator of that larger unit, not on a well by well basis. (i.e., if you own 1 acre of minerals in A-493, and it is ratified to the federal unit, your fractional interest is 1/22000 x royalty.
I really appreciate the information and your explanation. I used the link to the County Clerk of Shelby County and was able to view the Paid-Up Oil, Gas and Mineral Lease that my father signed in 2010 with Marathon Oil for the amount of $10 for 80.3384 Acres of land located in the George Miller Survey A-1013 and the James Mitcham Survey, A-511 in Shelby County. The royalties to be paid by the Lessee is 1/5. It states the primary term of 3 years from the date it was signed in 2010. The only other documents on file are the recent probate documents and my father’s Last Will filed on 6/2023. If I am understanding Legacy took over the lease from Marathon Oil? Thanks for all your information!
Thank you JWalker. We sure to miss him! He was just a wonderful person!
Legacy/Revenir has emailed me the documents to start the transfer to heirship. Is there anything that I should know or recommendations for this process or in regard to the leases? Thanks so much for all of your knowledge.
In addition to changing the name with Revenir, inform Shelby county appraisal district of the new names & address. Copies of your check stubs should be sufficient proof. In October expect tax statements from the County.
I am curious if your father signed a ratification into the USA Cothrom unit. If so, you will be participating in many wells .
You can see a plat of Doyle Boles unit at this link.
you keep referencing a focus on the Marathon Lease. What you need to understand is that what you have inherited, by Texas Property statutes, is subsurface mineral estate, real property. In this instance, an undivided fractional interest of two adjacent tracts of land. the minerals being produced (oil and gas) are based on agreement of the lease that was executed (Marathon/Legacy agree to drill and pay operating cost in exchange for producing the oil). The lease is perpetuated beyond its primary term by operatings, production and continuous development. If they plugged the wells and let the lease lapse, you would still own subsurface mineral real property.
As for the Cothrom Federal Development area, this has joined you into a 22,000 acre unit with a drilling schedule that would suggest they will be drilling and operating it probably for the remainder of your life span or longer. Either way, you need to understand not to focus on just the area formerly associated with the Doyle Boles tracts. You are a royalty recipient of production of every well within the federal development area from the time the lease was ratified to the unit. If it was not, then you will be paid on an allocation basis of the laterals that traverse your tracts only.
Ebby, you’ve gotten a lot of good advice. All of this is probably confusing but I think you are on the right tract to get it sorted out.
On your point about the lease your father signed with Marathon in 2010, although it stated it was for only a three year term, because a well was drilled and was producing before the end of that initial three years, the term of that lease was extended an became “held by production”, meaning the term of the lease automatically continues for as long as that first well, or later wells drilled in a unit that includes that leased acreage, continue to produce.
Legacy did take over as operator from Marathon so on your father’s lease and any other leases Marathon held in that unit, and after 2015 became the Lessee. It’s not worth looking for but a formal assignment from Marathon to Legacy that lists all those leases was probably recorded in the Shelby County deed records in 2015. The main point is, the terms of that original 2010 lease still apply to the mineral interest you inherited from your father. They will continue to be important and remain in effect as long as production continues there.
It doesn’t matters now, but you mentioned your father’s lease you found in the deed records was in the amount of $10. That probably doesn’t mean the actual lease bonus amount he was paid by Marathon was only $10. Documents covering leases, sale prices, and lots of other things are often stated that way (usually as, “ten dollars and other valuable considertion”) in documents that will be recorded and open for to public view. In other words, Marathon didn’t want to let the general public know specifically what they paid your father so they just said the amount was $10.
On your question about things you should be aware of on the transfer documents you’ve gotten from Revenir…one question is, do you have the information you need to confirm the share of the producing unit your father held, which Revenir should now be placing in your name? In your first post you talked about your father receiving a first check from Legacy for $110.98. You didn’t indicate what period of time that check covered. It could have been based on one month of production from one well, or an accumulation of royalty amounts over a period of time from multiple wells. Later you said the lease your father signed with Marathon covered 80.3384 acres. But that doesn’t indicate whether your father owned the full mineral interest in that 80+ acre tract or some fraction of the total interest. Just a guess, but based on the amount of that payment I thinking your father may have owned a small partial interest in that 80 acres. A statement should have come with that first check that showed the period of time (production month or months) that royalty payment covered, the wells it covered, which are normally listed separately in a pooled unit, and your father’s decimal ownership interest that the royalty payment was calculated on. If you can’t figure out each of those factors from the statement, or you don’t understand how your father’s decimal interest was calcuated, I think it would be logical to contact Revenir’s Owner Relations department asking for an explantion of those points.
It looks like the two wells drilled by Legacy didn’t start producing until earlier this year, so they may relate to that first check your father received, but the original well drilled by Marathon has apparently been producing since 2011 or 12. It seems like your father should have already been receiving royalty payments related to that earlier well. After 2015 those payments would should have come from Legacy since they took over as the operator. If you know he didn’t received any previous royalty payments you could also ask Revenir about that, and like J_Walker suggested above check the State’s unclaimed fund site in your father and grandfrather’s names.
The information fttxguy gave you about the wells in the original 674 acre unit Marathon formed becoming part of a 22,000 acre Cothrom A unit, is something I know nothing about. I’d seen the well name changes in RRC’s records but wasn’t aware of that larger unit, or how it might apply to your interest.
Hi JWalker, I see that most of my dad’s family members that also had leases with Legacy signed a ratification into the USA Cothrom unit in 2021 and 2022. Do you have knowledge or suggestions of who I should contact. My father moved in with us in 2021 when he was diagnosed with lung cancer. I did not see any documents or paperwork and it is not showing in the Shelby County records of a ratification.
Contact Revenir owner relations to confirm if your lease is ratified and now part of the 22K acre Cothrom or not . If your father chose not to ratify, you would have a larger decimal interest in a few wells than a smaller interest in many wells.
Hi Dusty 1, Yes, lots of good advice. This forum has been so helpful. Legacy/Revenir has emailed me the documents to transfers the heirship of my father’s mineral rights. As of last week, I now have all of the documents to start the transfer. The check from Legacy for $110.98 looks like the period of time that check covered was from Feb 2021-Feb 2022. It looks like my father ownes .000007 mineral interest in that 80+ acre tract.
Hi fttxguy, Thanks for the clarification of what I have inherited and the information regarding the Cothrom Federal Development. I spoke to Legacy/Revenir on the phone today and they stated that my father’s mineral interest in the Cothrom B5H is unratified. Once I have submitted the documentation for the transfer of lease, they will be sending an offer to join/sign the ratification. Thanks for all your knowledge.
Hi JWalker, I spoke to Revenir owner relations today and confirmed that the lease is UNRATIFIED and not part of the Cothrom. The contact at Revenir said that once all of the documentation for the heirship transfer is received, Revenir will send an offer letter to agree to ratify. Looking at the Shelby records I see that several of my dad’s relatives have signed ratification agreements. I am going to reach out to them to see if they can give me additional information and help me decided what to do. Thanks so much for all your information.
when they present that offer, please request a copy of the Federal Development Area Unit Designation…it is very informative about which lands are Fee and which lands are Federal/BLM within the Unit and has an excellent Unit Plat on the last page.