I have a question. My family was receiving a yearly royalty check for many years from a property that they owned the mineral rights to. The money was split equally by 4 heirs. Once the lease ended of course the checks stopped.
The local recorder and auditor website are very limited and from what I can tell the current owner of the land has a mineral lease signed with a company. To my knowledge, none of the heirs ever signed a deed that transferred any rights to any other owner.
Who is a good local company that can look into this, as we are out of state? I believe a reputable title company can complete a title search and should be able to start the process.
Often many individuals will own a fractional interest in a property that has the same legal description as yours. Their lease would cover only their factions interest. Still, it may be worth looking into. However, you did not mention which state and county is involved.
Sorry, I forgot to add the location. The parcel of land is in Wetzel County, West Virginia. That whole area is full of wells. The property is roughly 70 acres and was in the family from the early 1900s until the owners passed away. The property was then sold and the mineral rights were gifted to the grandkids. Like I stated above they were receiving royalties for many years, but then it stopped once the contract expired and now it looks like the landowner signed a mineral rights lease with a company. I’m just trying to get some direction as to where we should start to track down why the grandkids were not approached about their rights. Thanks
Todd- West Virginia doesn’t use the Section, Township, and Range system that so many other states do. It’s a real pain in the butt, and keeps those of us who do title work busy, and leads to lots of conflicting opinions about title. Wish it were otherwise.