I purchased some land from a man in 2009 and in the deed it says that the mineral rights will vest to me upon his death. He passed in 2013. Since I’m in Oklahoma and he was in California I did not find out about it probably until 2017 maybe. Then I went to the courthouse and seen where he had did a mineral rights deed to his grandson in 2010. My deed was filed July 30th 2009 and the other was filed February 5th 2010. So I believe it’s pretty obvious they belong to me my question is how do I take possession of them and find out if there’s money being paid for them or lease?
In what state are your minerals located? Laws vary from state to state. You really do need to have an attorney look at the exact language of both deeds. If in Texas, it’s possible, if grandfather reserved a life estate in the deed to you, that all his grandson got was grandfather’s life estate, and life estate expired when grandfather died. However, the exact language of both deeds is critical. If the minerals are in Texas, you can locate the property on the Railroad Commission maps to see if there are or have been wells on the property. You will also need to investigate the RRC database for nearby wells to see if your property was in a pooling unit for one of those wells.
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Aimee, the lands is in Oklahoma. Leflore county. The deed to me was for the property with a provision added that the mineral rights be vested to me upon his death. And was filed at the courthouse in 2009. The other is just a mineral deed to his grandson that was filed in 2010 that said his grandson was to get all of his interest in mineral rights in a couple of different sections.
You need to obtain a Death Certificate on the man then attach it to an Affidavit of death & record in the county clerk’s office against your legal description.
If these were my mineral interests, I would not file anything or do anything until you have an Oklahoma oil and gas attorney look at this. The Oklahoma Bar Association can give you a referral.
It sounds like the owner reserved a “life estate” meaning that he would be entitled to income for the remainder of his life. If this is the case, upon his death you would need to file an affidavit of surviving remanderman with an official copy of his death certificate. Fortunately, California has a process for a non-relative to obtain an informational death certificate.
Also, if this was a life estate, the seller could grant a mineral deed to anyone else but it should not impact your ability to claim the property upon the seller’s death.
Search LeFlore County Here: https://okcountyrecords.com/search/leflore#advanced-search
Request informational death certificate from California here:
This post is not legal / tax advice. This post does not create an attorney-client relationship.
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