Hey everyone. I’ve been receiving royalty payments on around a hundred different mineral leases since my parents passed away in 2016. I never once got any deeds or legal documents that show me what exactly I own. I have no clue honestly- I know the counties, and I pay the property taxes.
Is there any way I can receive information on the tracts I own without having to do a title search? Should I email the companies I’m receiving royalties from? Thanks for any advice, I’m still learning the ropes here.
Time to get out an excel spreadsheet or good old pencil and paper. This is going to take some good old fashioned leg work! You can do it!
First of all, put your royalty checks in order by operator. (Save all statement stubs for seven years for IRS purposes). Then make a list of every well that is on each statement. Many of them may have descriptions next to them with a section, township and range or abstract. Make note of the state and county.
Contact the Division Order or Revenue Department of each operator and ask very politely for their paragraph from the title option for each well that describes what they say you own. Also ask for a copy of the lease that goes with each tract. Some operators are very friendly and others not so much. Be patient. The DO folks are highly overworked. Appreciate them well! Tell them that you are starting from scratch and trying to reconstruct your records.
You did not mention the state you are in, but there are several very free to fairly inexpensive ways to search for your title information. The first place is the copy of the document that gave you the inheritance. The will “should have had” a list of properties. You may have producing properties and properties that are not producing (they may have value as well). (I can give you some of those links if you tell what state. Don’t want to clutter the reply with every potential state.)
You need to check each state where your parents lived to see if there are any missing funds in suspense. The state treasurer’s office is where to go. Do not use a commercial service as they charge fees and you can do this yourself for free. You will need probate documents to claim any funds that you find. For example, the Texas Comptrollers office is https://www.claimittexas.gov/
Now go to your property tax statements. They will also list your wells on their statements. Compare and fill in more items on your above list.
This will get you started. Come back and we can help with other places to search.
Welcome to the forum. The place to start is with the companies that were paying royalties to your parents. Ask them what is needed to get yourself placed into “pay status”. This varies by state and often involves a probate. You should also search the land records in the state where they owned minerals. Also, check any probates from grandparents. These often include legal descriptions for minerals.
This post is not legal, tax or investment advice. Reading or responding to this post does not create an attorney/client relationship.
I just wanted to give you a huge thank you for giving me such great advice and a place to start with. I am in Arkansas, and will start by looking over the division orders that I have received in the past. Again, thank you SO much. So glad I found this forum
I was in your position in January. Thanks to some great people like @M_Barnes and @Richard_Winblad, I got lot’s of great help and suggestions. I am not in a financial position to be able to hire attorneys or landmen men to help me. Being retired I had time to really investigate and I feel like I’m close to having a good handle on things. Just “stay after it!” You can do it!