Lost land to trio/waco/michael ross in tax sale!

West Virginia Mineral Rights Harrison County, WV
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Dear Harrison County Mineral Rights Members,

My Brother & I are heirs to a (1/4) interest in a gas lease dating back to 1897. My Great Grandfather HG Moffett had a farm in Big Issac, W Va totaling (136) acres. He left the lease with South Penn Oil Co. to (8) children.

My Grandmother, Great Aunt, Aunt & Mother paid taxes every year, and received royalties since inheriting (2x1/8) or a (1/4) interest in royalties. We were deeded the (1/4) interest prior to my Mothers passing in (2000) and have paid taxes and received royalties from the pumped oil since the transfer.

Anteros began to speak with us about (2) years ago, requesting a lease modification. CNX took over last year, and once I had an offer from them I retained a local Pittsburgh attorney familiar with gas leases to look the offer over.

About three weeks ago, a CNX land man informed me that we had lost the (1/4) share to Tenmile Oil (&) TRIO/WACO/ROSS back in the early 90's. He sent me Copies of a deed transfer showing the Tenmile Deed dated (1/96), in the name of Howard L. Moffett, who died in 1992.

I contacted a very knowledgeable lawyer in Morgantown who searched the records and he found an additional deed showing Howard L. Moffett & (7) others, including my Grandmother Odessa & my Great Aunt Ida, which had had been sold at tax sale to TRIO/WACO/ROSS in April, 1994.

The only person the tax office notified concerning sale in both cases was H L Moffett who was deceased. My Mother never received notice, nor is there any record showing that she was notified. Had she been notified by ether "Tenmile Oil (or) TRIO/WACO/ROSS", or whoever is responsible (perhaps the tax office), she would have gladly paid the $6.50 tax due.

I'm not a lawyer, but, as I understand, there are now (2) taxes that are due: Tax on Oil/Gas in place (&) a tax on Royalties. Is this correct?

I also understand that the new tax on oil & gas in place was implemented in Harrison County in the late (80's/early 90's) that would have applied to this situation. Does anyone have any info on how an oil & gas lease would be taxed? There are (2) oil wells that are operational.

I'm also wondering if anyone else in this network knows of anyone who's been damaged in a like kind of situation where notice was given, but to someone who didn't have a vested interest.

I am willing to help pay for a class action suit if that's our next step.

Please, any info would be truly appreciated.

John Hensler

412.523.4975

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I should have titled this post "LOST LEASE TO TRIO/WACO/MICHAEL ROSS IN TAX SALE!"

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Look at this thread

http://www.mineralrightsforum.com/group/harrison-county-wv-oil-gas/forum/topics/sale-of-interest-by-tax-office-without-nitification

Sounds very familiar.

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I don't know how long ago this happened, but you have three years to contest the deed. I am currently suing another man for the same sort of nonsense. Oddly enough, Mr. Ross is the operator of the well in question. In my particular case, my grandfather, who passed in 1983, was served with the notifications...rather than my Mother, who lived in the same house for the past 23 years.
John Hensler said:

I should have titled this post "LOST LEASE TO TRIO/WACO/MICHAEL ROSS IN TAX SALE!"

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I have a couple of questions that perhaps someone might be able to respond to:

Who notifies (by mail) the person of record, the County or the person/company trying to pay the unpaid taxes & penalties?

Are either required to make sure the person of record is alive?

Thanks,

John

412.523.4975

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I think the party notifying someone is the state auditor's office. The buyer is responsible for sending a list of people to be notified and addresses. They say it should be an attorney preparing the title (to find the current owners) but as I understand it , there is nobody checking into the list to see if these are really the proper people. I bought a property a few years ago from the delinquent list and found out about the process. This was somebody who died in the 1950s, no children, a small property, only the descendants of sisters around and they may not even have known who she was. Point is, I think it is a very lax system. Bottom line is, you have to know your ancestor owned something, watch the local newspaper like a hawk. and be lucky, to avoid having your property taken like this, even if the buyer is trying hard to do it right. When there is no attempt to do proper research the sale should not be valid. I don't know more than that, and am not an attorney.

Here is a link to the department and some things about the process

WV Auditor's office Delinqent Land sales

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Stephanie P said:


I don't know how long ago this happened, but you have three years to contest the deed. I am currently suing another man for the same sort of nonsense. Oddly enough, Mr. Ross is the operator of the well in question. In my particular case, my grandfather, who passed in 1983, was served with the notifications...rather than my Mother, who lived in the same house for the past 23 years.

STEPHANIE:

May I ask who you are suing in this case?

John

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John, I will friend you.

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Here's a link to the West Virginia Statutes on tax sales.

http://www.legis.state.wv.us/wvcode/ChapterEntire.cfm?chap=11a&art=3

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Thank you, Kyle!

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Yes, but Kyle, they can't take parts of a set of mineral rights and "rename" them 100 years later and create new taxes on them to sell at auction without permission of the owner who has paid the taxes in full. It is like there is a pot of soup folks pay taxes on and someone is taking the carrots out and saying..."You didn't pay the taxes on the carrots, so we are selling them." If you paid the taxes on the soup, don't you still own the carrots too?

My guess is there is no statute for all that nonsense.

And the little guy marches on... =) Thanks for all you do for the little guy.

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Hi John, we have also had land purchased by Trio and Mike Ross w/out being notified. We should talk soon.

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Greg:

In speaking with law firms here in Pittsburgh, Ross & his many companies are well known. We are not alone.

I suggest we speak by phone.

412.523.4975

John

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Yes, he was a former state senator in West Va. A landman stated that he owned 1/2 of the oil and gas in West Va. I know he purchased adverse properties that my brothers and I should have inherited. I’ll try and give you a call today.

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Greg, I found an article that listed him as owning more private land than any other private person in many counties in WV. (I think it was 15 counties, if I remember correctly)

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I've heard he has spent millions purchasing land at tax sales. I guess if you are a billionaire you can do that.

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Who was the operator on the well at the time?

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John,

My situation is now a bit less cloudy.

The operator of one of our wells, (guess who) issued payment in 2010 for a well to my grandfather who had been dead since 1983. (All proper paperwork was filed with the county when he passed, but for some reason the operator wasn't paying my mother?)

Well, when that operator reported to the state that they had issued royalty funds to grandpa, the state created a duplicate tax ticket. But of course, grandpa didn't pay his taxes because he is dead. Now, mind you, we still haven't uncovered whether the check for royalties was ever cashed in the first place. (I'm curious at what they come up for that answer?)

So, even though, I paid the taxes on this set of rights and they were in my mother's name, they sold the duplicate tax ticket at auction. The person who bought them said that when my grandfather's will was filed he didn't use his middle initial so it couldn't possibly be the same guy. (We are not talking about John Smith here, it is a fairly unique name.)

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And your mother had been paying taxes all along for this interest, in the correct account, right? How creative people can be!!

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It seems like there should be something to be done about that. Check the following links and see if they're of any help to you.

https://www.wvsao.gov/countycollections/FAQ.aspx

http://www.legis.state.wv.us/wvcode/Code.cfm?chap=11a&art=1

Your situation sounds an awful lot like one I'm working on for somebody else. If I recall correctly, the time to redeem an interest is three years, so you're outside that window, but there may be something to be done about it through the courts. That's what we're following up on right now.