I've recently been contacted by someone who claims that I have mineral rights that I'm not aware of.He wants to purchse 1/2 my mineral rights anywhere in the state of Texas,but will not disclose where this interest is until after we make a deal.I do own some tiny interest in Brazos county Texas.He's willing to exclude these.I don't want to sell my rights but don't have much of a clue what he's talking about.My family is largely from the Burleson county area so I suppose that's a possibilty.There is also step family to add more possibilities.It seems like this could take one heck of a lot of research to find on my own.
He does offer enough money to make me curious.
Is this a scam ? Has anyone else encountered anything like this ?
What would you do ?
Dear Mr. Massey,
Sure it is real. He just knows way more than you about this situation. A scam? No, not at all. Capitalism.
Once you know the truth, you will know what to do. Determining the truth may be expensive. But there may be alternatives to gain the information.
As an example, do not commit to convey all your property at a set price. Say that you might consider selling 5% of your interest. Once you know the property location, then you can do your due diligence. You might find out that your family has some royalty money coming and nobody bothered to find you until this guy did. That typically is not the fault of the oil company. The burden is on the mineral owner to protect their assets.
If it were me, my first stop off would be to the unclaimed property in the State of Texas website. Put in every relative's name that you could possibly think of. Maybe something will pop out. Contact other family members to find out what they might know.
Best
Buddy Cotten
A finders fee is usually not 50%, but then he says he's offering to buy half of your acreage.
Is the per acre amount significant? If the offer to buy amounts to very little I would make it a working assumption that there is already money in suspense and that he will pay you a small amount of what would then be his purchased minerals have already accrued.
You might tell him you will sell him 10% outright for $1 or the alternative is you will search until you find it and he gets nothing.
Buddy is right, it's capitalism but capitalism cuts both ways. After this guy sits there with useless information that could bring him at least a little something and knowing that you now know to search, he might decide to accept any reasonable offer. Likely this guy stumbled onto it and did not spends months tracking it down and he's just trying to make a killing. It might eat more at him than you because he knows how little he has invested and how much he has to gain.
Daryl
Having lived and worked in Burleson County for almost 30 years this is for real. Buddy Cotten gave you good sound advice.
Not finding anything on the Comptroller's site could mean that these minerals are just not in production or have not produced long enough to be turned over to the State. By him calling it minerals, not royalty, I would assume these minerals are not leased. Remember, if he found you, a landman wanting your lease probably would have found you.
Charles Cunningham
Daryl,
I will give you a giant caveat. Many people will transfer their interest as of some date prior to the date of the transfer -- worded like, "dated this 31st day of March, 2014, but effective as of date of first production on any of the lands or interests conveyed herein."
Also, suspense funds held by a company are not considered real property anymore. For them to do it just right, I would get a bit jumpy of there was Bill of Sale language included in the conveyance for suspended funds, because then I know we are talking about real money. The absolute last place you want to end up is to convey the properties and the suspended funds more than pay for the buyers purchase price.
Best
Buddy Cotten
Daryl,
You are getting awesome advice. Coming from the exploration and production side, I'll add that the producers, if successful, will probably find you eventually so get your current address in the county records if you can. Since you didn't know you had minerals, your are not losing anything by waiting.
Does this happen? Yes it does. An elderly person's lawyer recently asked me to look into an offer to purchase a lot of land. The buyer was very pushy and set a deadline which came and went. While I was doing a geologic evaluation of the newly drilled area, 6 division orders showed up for her approval. As Kennedy says, capitalism works both ways.
I'm new here and would like to say thanks to everyone for their advice.Is this something a landman could help me locate ? I believe I'm patient enough not to do anything foolish.It does go against the grain to turn down money
then just sit and wait for someone else to contact me.
If you know Dennis Engelmann, I would say go talk to him since he is local to you.
Daryl Massey said:
I'm new here and would like to say thanks to everyone for their advice.Is this something a landman could help me locate ? I believe I'm patient enough not to do anything foolish.It does go against the grain to turn down money
then just sit and wait for someone else to contact me.
Dennis Engleman ? Could be helpful ? How do I contact ? Landman ?
Charles Cunningham said:
If you know Dennis Engelmann, I would say go talk to him since he is local to you.
Daryl Massey said:
I'm new here and would like to say thanks to everyone for their advice.Is this something a landman could help me locate ? I believe I'm patient enough not to do anything foolish.It does go against the grain to turn down money
then just sit and wait for someone else to contact me.
Dennis lives in Caldwell on 166 and he is a landman. His dad used to own Engelmann's Quick Stop in Caldwell years ago
Daryl Massey said:
Dennis Engleman ? Could be helpful ? How do I contact ? Landman ?
Charles Cunningham said:
If you know Dennis Engelmann, I would say go talk to him since he is local to you.
Daryl Massey said:
I'm new here and would like to say thanks to everyone for their advice.Is this something a landman could help me locate ? I believe I'm patient enough not to do anything foolish.It does go against the grain to turn down money
then just sit and wait for someone else to contact me.
Do not under any circumstances agree to sell your mineral rights. They could be very lucrative. I guess you could call it capitalism, but a pretty greedy capitalist. I own a significant number of acres with mineral rights. I get mail probably once a month that requests to buy my minerals. I tear them up and throw them away. My guess is a title search has been done somewhere and you have been identified as THE heir or one of them. Take your time and do some research. Get the name of the company and see where they have offices and check those counties. Time to speak to your older relatives and see if you can trace your family history. Good Luck. Texas is a big oil state as is the state where I come from. Check your state oil and gas commission. They may have some contacts for you and may be able to tell you the process that companies have to follow in terms of trying to find someone who is family and where this general information may be found.
"It’s a Zero Sum game – somebody wins, somebody loses. Money itself isn’t lost or made, it’s simply transferred – from one perception to another. Like magic."
"Greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right, greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms: greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge, has marked the upward surge of mankind."
~~~~~~Gordon Gekko, 1987
Don't quote that money is the root of all evil. It is not. The LOVE of money is the root of all evil. Sadly, money no longer exists in the United States. Only currency.
Yes, I also like the discourse contained in Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau.
Talk about divergent points of view.
Buddy Cotten
PS. I have sold mineral rights. Many times. Producing mineral rights. Sometimes you just have to cash out the asset for other, more important things, like caring for a sick spouse or an aging mother. Not everybody is yoked equally. Read 2nd Corinthians
Lynne Smith said:
Do not under any circumstances agree to sell your mineral rights. They could be very lucrative. I guess you could call it capitalism, but a pretty greedy capitalist. I own a significant number of acres with mineral rights. I get mail probably once a month that requests to buy my minerals. I tear them up and throw them away. My guess is a title search has been done somewhere and you have been identified as THE heir or one of them. Take your time and do some research. Get the name of the company and see where they have offices and check those counties. Time to speak to your older relatives and see if you can trace your family history. Good Luck. Texas is a big oil state as is the state where I come from. Check your state oil and gas commission. They may have some contacts for you and may be able to tell you the process that companies have to follow in terms of trying to find someone who is family and where this general information may be found.
If you have no idea whatsoever about your minerals then you won't be able provide any information to help someone track them down. Plus landmen are expensive. You ought to just take the deal.
If I grasp some of the information I've come across,I should :
Make a list of most likely relatives,look up their names in the clerk's office index files in the most likely counties,see what sort of documents relate to them,check those documnets did they retain any minerals,see what i might stumble on
Dear Mr. Massey,
That would be my first due diligence. There is always the opportunity to pay a finder's fee that is limited .. such as 10% of the money recovered, not to exceed $XXX.XX.
Buddy Cotten
Daryl Massey said:
If I grasp some of the information I've come across,I should :
Make a list of most likely relatives,look up their names in the clerk's office index files in the most likely counties,see what sort of documents relate to them,check those documnets did they retain any minerals,see what i might stumble on
Also check probates in those relatives' names.