Good afternoon. I am at my wits end. I have spent the last 2 weeks trying to locate my fathers mineral rights and i have found nothing except heartache and phone tag. My father recently passed. He lived in Oregon, I live in CA, and he has mineral rights or royalities in TX and LA. Texas was simple, i looked it up at the county and was able to find all i needed for probate. But Caddo Parish, LA, all i get it phone tag and run arounds and no clear answers. The checks are minor… maybe a couple hundred dollars a year, but i have to include it in the probate, and it is holding up the probate. I have an old listing back in the 80s from my mothers probate when he recieved them, but i cannot seem to verify if he still owns them, or their market values, or legal descriptions to submit to probate. Can anyone advise me on how i can locate them? I already did the property search online in Caddo Parish, but the only thing that was there was the probate for my mom that was filed back in the 80’s… nothing else. The county told me they can not do research and i would have to research it myself, i just dont know how.
It looks like the parish online only goes to 1983. You will have to hire a landman to go back further in time. I have used a few in this area if you need a rec.
I am in a similar probate problem nearby in Shelby County Texas. If you can find a check receipt it will have well names, owner number, what gas was priced at at the time, it will have drilling costs listed and might even have your assumed royalty %.
Can check county/partish clerk’s office records online. Search by last name 1st then first name. The spelling MATTERS while in search mode. There’s a tone more stuff/info but since it’s in the Louisiana/Texas area. You can see online what counties and parishes are in the Haynesville shale natural gas play. I 100% know it’s tedious. Also, a lawyer SHOULD know how to draw up a description of “missing/unfound family mineral/royalties. If the well is making royalties, then the county and gas company MUST HAVE public records of such property and what % of taxes that you gave to yearly pay
Does your mother’s probate have legal descriptions or list of producing wells? You can look at the locations to see if there are currently producing wells. If your father’s name is not in deed records after probate records, it would seem that he did not sell the minerals. Louisiana law has reversionary provisions if all production and well activities ceased for 10 (?) years so it is possible that minerals have reverted to surface owner. Contact the company which has issued any recent checks and ask for well identification. Maybe your probate can use the legal descriptions from your mother’s probate or deed and add language such as ‘any right , title or interest in the following minerals plus the list.
Yes, my mothers probate has a description listed, i wish i could just relist the same thing, but i know it is not that simple. And the fact that i have no clue what any of this means, im shooting in the dark. for example, one of the listed descriptions is: CV D SUD; Haggard 639.75 ac .00094 royality interest CV D SUI: Scott/B/ 640 ac .000933 GL RA SUF; R. Henderson 639.75 ac .00094… that is just to name 3… What do all those letters and names mean? How do I use that information to locate anything?
I see this type of description a great deal when people do not have a legal description for a property. These are unit descriptions which is probably the only information the people had readily available. LA maintains their records, as does TX, in a Grantor/Grantee index method, so you must work through name searches and tie that to a property if working through the parish records. Severed minerals are subject to prescription rights which have a structured term of 10 years or continuous production, so this is another challenge in title analysis in LA. You can back into the basic units by using the LA Sonris website, but this has a learning curve.
LA Sonris website? That is one that i have not tried. Ive been to the county site and paid for the online lookups, then got shuffled to other places, one being a company that only deals in state rights, who directed me to this website with these forums. I will put that in a search engine and see what website that leads me to. I wish LA was more like Texas, i was able to look it all up online there! lol
The names could be either the unit name or it could be the lease name
Sonris is the LA State website that deals in Oil and Gas regulation and compliance. You should be able to look up the wells. That should at least provide a general overview of the property as well as a production history. You can generally hire a landman for the area between $300-400/day ++. One day probably gets you to your answer. Good luck.
CV D SUD Haggard is a 640 acre Cotton Valley Unit that is still producing from the 1950’s - Cotton Valley “D” Sand (Sand Unit D). This is Section 22 Township 17 North Range 16 West. Your decimal would equate to roughly 4.81 acres leased at 1/8th. The GL FA SUF Henderson was a Rodessa Gloyd Unit (Sand Unit F) that is no longer producing and was plugged in 1994. LCV D SUI Scott B is a Cotton Valley Unit (Sand Unit I) that is shut in but not yet plugged - covers Section 28 Township 17 North Range 16 West. Comstock bought this section in a package and drilled multiple Haynesville wells back in the 2017-2019 timeframe. Section 22 does not yet have any Haynesville production yet. There is also a Greenwood Rodessa Hill water flood still active that covers portions of the sections you are noting - you likely are entitled to royalties (although small) in that as well.
OMG!! You know what those letters mean!! Thank you so much! I am printing this out so i can try and sort out and hopefully link it to something that the courts will accept. How do you know all this? Is there a place i can go and look up the others? The GL FA SUF you mention, my papers say GL RA SUF; R. Henderson, is that the same thing? there is also a TP SUD; Scott B 640 acres, .0000933…and a "Greenwood Rodessa Hill, UT, does not list acres only a decimal amount of .0000805 and Haggard Unit #1, no acres listed .0007483, and Henderson R#1 SGW, no acres listed .0000248, and Henderson R#1 SGW, .0009058… are these the well names? I went to the SONIS website, and tried to navigate that, but i know there is a map on there that asks about look up through well name, are these letters and names what i need to put into that to get if they are active? and thank you so much for letting me know all of this! You are seriously a godsend. I have spent the last 2 weeks playing phone tag with so many places and looking up on so many websites, trying to figure out what any of this means. I know that the dollar amount of the royalities is small, which is why i did not want to hire a landman, i would never be able to get my money back from them, and this is the most help I have got from anyone! You really dont know how much i appreciate this! I could not afford to hold up the probate any longer because of these royalities! THANK YOU!!
You’re very welcome. Keep digging !! That’s what I do after work every darn day : (.
I just got an email back from a clerk’s office from me sending it LAST WEEK. Apparently, things go slow in a clerks office and since it does, it has forced me to research… EVERYTHING ! Every name meaning all percentages, unit sizes, acres allowed per unit, how spread out the wells must be, how deep wells are, the well service company etc…. It’s boring but I have a mandate to fix this past issue that a landman has chose to “ kick the can down the road for someone else tk worry about”
You’re welcome again VERY MUCH 
Good luck with your searches
My mistake that was a typo - GL RA SUF Henderson was the Gloyd Reservoir A Sand Unit F Henderson #1 - Rodessa Gloyd Well that was P & A in 1994. TP SUD Scott B references a well that is currently not producing (but not plugged) from the Travis Peak Formation (Sand Unit D)- named the Scott B-#1. The Cotton Valley reservoirs in this field along with Travis Peak Gas reservoirs are generally on 640 acre units give or take slightly for the surveys. Oil Units can be on smaller spacing. The “Greenwood Rodessa Hill” you mention is likely the Greenwood Rodessa Hill Water Flood I referenced before. UT will be the Unit Tract that you fall into. Haggard likely references the well name for an older Travis Peak well in section 22 although there is also a Rodessa Hill well with the same name that is included in the water flood. You can search these wells on Sonris by clicking the Data Portal link then selecting well information. Look for the tab “search by wells by section Township and Range”. Type in your sections one at a time which appear to be 22 and 28 of Township 17 North Range 16 West or just leave section blank and it will pull up every section for the Township and Range entered. As far as probate considerations I would think that you could just list the sections and or wells/units that are included in the inventory but that would ultimately depend on your attorney and their recommendations.
I went on sonis and did the section township range lookup and found all the ones that had acres listed by them! THANK YOU!!! It makes it so nice to know what some of these letters stand for as well, and i seriously cannot thank you enough for all that! I will go an look for travis peak in the section township range option and see if i find any of those names on the wells, then pull up the detail and see if the old name is there. You have been such a big help and a blessing! THANK YOU!!!
I’m trying to evaluate a lease offer on Section 2, T16S-R36E. Lots 13, 14, 15 & W/2 Lot 16. I have no clue of the activity in that area.