Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). But if she has old leases and other papers, they would have the legal description(s) we need as a place to begin.
HI Everyone,
I haven't read through the complete discussion. But I do want to share a thought.
A couple of years ago I pursued a lead on a lease and it turned up over $50,000. in suspension by a purchasing company, not the drilling company. Not all of the companies put the money in unclaimed property as they are legally bound to do.
Unclaimed property in Oklahoma has proven very lucrative and I encourage mineral owners to first go into the MOEA site at the Corporation Commission. Monies that I found there were not listed on the unclaimed property, but when I checked with the Treasurers office, they were available. It doesn't always come up on the Treasurer's unclaimed property site. Crossing checking has proved to be a good method. I have also been doing this for about 6 yrs. It is of value to periodically go through the sites (both MOEA and Unclaimed property) because funds that were not there a year ago can come up as companies put money in suspension. Maybe cleaning up old accts. etc. ( anyway, I encourage people to check now and again)
And finally, I have gone in using all of the potential, historical names and uncovered new minerals that did not make it through all of the generations of probates. It is a lot of work but can prove valuable in growing your portfolio of mineral rights.
Good luck to you in your searches,
Dee
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Check the Oklahoma Unclaimed Property website.. put in every name your family has used.. they may have sent payment there if they were unable to locate you.
I just want to thank everyone that replied to this. I can't tell you how much I have learned in the past couple of months not just from this thread which has a ton of great info but from this entire site.
One thing that several people have mentioned was to check with the state unclaimed property. Great idea. But when I checked, and when my cousin check neither of us found anything. It was not until my cousin actually called and spoke with someone there that we learned that they were holding some money for us. It was under my grandfather's name which we had both checked. But it never showed up. So the lesson here is that if you are pretty sure there is something there and you can't find it through the website pick up the phone and call! We are still waiting for the disbursement, but I know that there is someone there working on it.
I have noticed another amount listed on the MOEA site and will be dealing with that in the very near future. My family is pretty fed up right now and I know they will all say they don't care about the other money. But the heck with them. It is not so much about the money at this point but the principle of it now.
So the second lesson is yes...check both places.
We had hired an attorney in OK as we had to go back and go through probate on my grandparents wills and my mothers trust and all of that in order to get everything put into our names which it now is. We got lazy and had the attorney do all the paperwork with the state for us as well. Not sure that I would do that in the future. But what I would do - if there is more than one family involved is maker sure that only one person sends in all the information for everyone at the same time. I think this is important as it needs to be split properly. Plus it makes it easier for the person at the state office to know who to contact if there are any problems or questions.
So again...many thanks to all of you that responded here and gave me not only some hope but some really great suggestions.
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