I’m not receiving Royalty Checks for RimRock well in Sec 30-2N-2W, My sister is getting her’s but myself & my other sister are not, We all have the same percent.
What specifically has been their response? Is the account in suspense, are they saying you do not have an interest in the well, or are they even responding?
Thank You for Your response Sir. I have Not had any response to my inquiry as of yet. I do have interest in the lease as I signed a lease and they payed me a bonus on the lease, I took a higher Royalty % than my Sister who has recieved Checks from them. The Account has been in Suspention since Oct 2017 & she got her first check in June 18.
so when you called owner relations they did not respond, or responded and did not provide you a reasona s to why you are in suspense?
Did RimRock send you a division order?
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From glancing at some of the county records on file, I suspect title issues has it suspended. I am surprised your sister is getting paid.
You are likely going to need an sttorney but you really need to get RimRock to tell you what they want to remove it from suspense.
I bet they want you to probate the estate on Oklahoma to clear up non-marketable title, quiet title it.
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Send a certified letter to their division order department. Enclose a filled out W-2. In the letter identify the well with the legal, your full name and state that you have previously asked why you have not been paid and have received no response (Dates would be helpful) Explain that your sister is being paid, why the difference etc. Make sure at the end that you demand statutory interest at the rate of 12% (if there is a title issue the rate is 6%) from the date of first sales.
If they say your interest is suspended because you didn’t sign a division order: For a royalty owner in Oklahoma you can not withhold revenues for failure to sign a division order, once the address and social security number have been provided and since they paid you a lease bonus they already have that information.
If they say there are title issues - have them provide the relevant required information from the division order title opinion and go from there. You may just need to sign an affidavit of heirship.
Doing these things should get you some attention. Oil companies hate paying statutory interest and they jump through hoops to avoid it. I had a similar situation where my 3 siblings were being paid and I wasn’t. After several emails I figured out they had credited my sister with my interest. They even suggested I just get the money from her (relieving them of the statutory interest obligation). I finally received multiple interest checks from Plains. You may have to request it several times, be persistent, you are owed that interest.
Good luck, keep us posted.
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Thank You for Your Response, As of today my oldest sister got division orders in for her signature, My younger sister and myself have seen nothing.
Thank You Rick, I would tend to agree with you as in most cases that usually is the problem, how ever our Interest came from a Trust, and we also have multiple leases in Garvin County We have been recieving royalty payments for years,also from a well that is in the Same Sec & Township.
It is very common for someone to be willing to lease you and yet still place you in suspense for non-marketable title. The risk vs reward applies. They are willing to risk paying bonus because they prevented another party from getting the leasehold. But when higher production payment dollars are at risk they may be more hesitant to do so. The same is true with the payments of from older producing properties.
Send me a private message to contact me. I’ll be glad to share some of the things that made me go “hmmm”.
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I’m sure you meant a W-9 on this. I agree with the above.
You have to consider that this may suspend the sisters payments. Not knowing all of the facts, I might be hesitant to bring her into it. But would be inclined to do so if I thought my proceeds were incorrectly being distributed to my sister.
Additionally, I’m hesitant make demands to that might create an unnecessary adversarial relationship. I prefer to collect the principle owed and then ask for interest if they do not submit it as required by §52-570.10. Granted, it is almost a sure bet that they will not submit it without asking.
To clarify the way I understand the statutes. There is no statute requiring a Division order. But the are statutes requiring payments to be distributed within a certain time frame. (Production Revenue Standards Act + Sections 570.1 through 570.15 of Title 52 of the Oklahoma Statutes)
Leases may or may not have been with an operator and it is not uncommon for a contractor to distribute bonus from the leases. The operator may not have this information.
Agree, and keeping the interaction on a positive level will help very much in getting that information. This the reason I hesitate in “demanding”. Usually the Division Order Analysts and Title Analysts can be your best friends on these deals.
There is still an element of risk and it it up to the payer take on that risk. An AoH does not immediately cure title. There are some coming changes (November 2018) in §52-570.10 mentioning the AoH. “acceptable affidavit of death and heirship in conformity with Section 67 of Title 16 of the Oklahoma Statutes” However, my opinion is the operator makes the “acceptable” determination and is still burdened with the risk.
Good job in refusing to take the take payments from your sister. If it was enough you were concerned about interest, then Tax issues would be a very real concern.
A small amount, then my sister owes me dinner! 
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