My mom passed away a few years ago. While I was going through trash bags of mail - I discovered that she had inherited mineral rights from grandpa and grandma. HOWEVER, to make a long story short - let’s just say there was work that needed to be done to get them down to me or my sister.
I hired a lawyer, property went into to probate that was completed last week. My sister got the real property and I received the mineral rights that was located in two different counties.
I received:
LOTS 26,27,28 in Block 31 in the town of Pittsburg - located in Pittsburg County.
and
26-12N-2W
35-12N-2W
27-12N-2W
34-12N-2W
Located in Oklahoma County.
My lawyer said that everything filed in the court house reflects that I’m the legal owner of those mineral rights. However, I have nothing in paper or actual proof of this. I can tell folks all day long I own them - but with out proof.
My Questions:
Is there an actual piece of paper that states this located somewhere?
Is there a web site that states this?
For those who pay royalties - how do I find out who they are and update them with my information?
Sorry if these questions are dumb - again - all new at this.
The probate can only convey what the decedent owned. To confirm what you think you may own via the distribution terms of the probate, you need to review the county clerk’s records and run “your” chain of title backwards to see what your mom owned.
If your mom actually owned an interest, then the Probate acts as your conveyance.
If your mother was receiving royalties, you need to send the operator a copy of the Probate as recorded in the County Clerk’s office.
Good Luck.
There is no piece of paper that identifies the owner of real property. In Monopoly, you get a deed, and if you hold that deed, then you own that piece of property, such as Park Place. Same with a car title.
In real life, you get a deed, but you record that deed. After recording that deed, you can throw that deed away, burn it, lose it, etc. Doesn’t matter. Then somebody runs title like Todd said. After running title, the landman will do an ownership report or an attorney will do a title opinion. But that’s it. That report will show who owns the property. (You might own some mutual funds, but you don’t hold any stock certificates. It is in the mutual funds’ office records.)
No website showing ownership of mineral rights. If you own the surface, you can generally find the ownership on the assessor’s website.
This one is a little bit more complicated. You can check the well records of the corporation commission against your legal description to see if there are any wells still producing. Based on the locations of these legal descriptions, I suspect there is no production.
You should visit with your probate attorney. The order distributing the property should be filed in each county where the minerals are located. You can see if it was filed there at these sites.
To search by legal descriptions for production you might want to start here:
Oklahoma Taxpayer Access Point Select “Search By Legal” enter the legal and hit enter. Review active wells and click production history. These will give the name of the operator who you should contact.
This post is not legal, tax or investment advice. Reading or responding to this post does not create an attorney/client relationship.
I am also fairly new to this. My suggestion: Make a spreadsheet. Include the location of the minerals, any current/past wells, energy company, recorded in respective county…. Cross check your spreadsheet with any “paper” mineral deeds and county recordings. In cross checking our spreadsheet, we discovered two paper mineral deeds, which were recorded in the respective counties, but had been left out of my dad’s Life Estate. Apparently, he had overlooked these two deeds, leading to some additional legal steps. In any case, this spreadsheet has become an invaluable tool for us. We also got the plat books for the counties where our minerals are located and this has been quite helpful, too. Finally, continue to follow this forum—you get questions answered that you didn’t even know to ask!
@ironspike, your questions are very reasonable. It does look like there are producing wells
in at least 35-12N-2W. Whether you own in the exact right area would have to be verified.
If you own in the NW quadrant of section 35, NE of sec 34, SE of sec 27, or SW of sec 26,
this would match the lease description on the OKTAP PUN website.
https://oktap.tax.ok.gov/OkTAP/web?link=PUBLICPUNLKP
Pittsburg lots translates to 20-3N-14E, which also has two producing gas wells.
Your lots are on the corner of 4th and Pittsburg streets in Pittsburg, OK.