We own about 10 acres where the deed contains a life estate reservation of the mineral interest from the prior owner (a distant relative). The prior owner is in their mid-90's and lives at a nursing home on the east coast. I just received a request by an unknown oil company asking me to ratify, approve, and confirm a lease that was recently executed by the life estate owner (via a child with a power of attorney). I asked for a copy of the signed lease, which was provided; it was the form 88 lease with no changes made. The oil co has followed up a couple of times asking me to execute the document and get it back to them quickly, so there will be "no delay in getting us payments once production commences." (Note: we own other minerals in the same section and no well location has been proposed at this time). Obviously, the form 88 lease with no depth clause, etc. is not something that is appealing to me, but I would like to know if anyone has run across this kind of a situation before. Thanks, Ricky
You are probably stuck with the lease that was signed. Unfortunately.... We have had that happen as well. It might be useful if you know the relative with the POA to inquire if they knew they could get better terms, join the forum, join NARO, etc. They were hurting themselves in the long run to sign a bad lease, but they may just not be familiar with the nuances of all those lease clauses.