I’ve looked at a few of the discussion regarding probate already and I think I’ve gleaned together some helpful info but I have a few more questions regarding my Dads inherited mineral rights and the probate of his estate. My Dad died in MO, his mineral rights are all leased and located in Blaine county, OK. He died without a will or trust. I only know he inherited mineral rights because he sold some in 2016 and I ran across the paperwork when I was cleaning out his house. I know there are more but I don’t know anything else. I live in CA, the attorney helping me with the probate in MO has no idea how to deal with mineral rights. He asked me if I wanted to include them on the inventory of the estate? I don’t know…do I? Can I get the rights put in my name if I don’t include them? I don’t even know how to include them on an inventory and I’m not even sure where they are located in OK or if they have been sold or not. Deadline to file the inventory with the court if Monday. Yikes! I’m so lost. Sorry for the novel. Should I hire another attorney in OK?
Occurred to me if I include the mineral rights in probate inventory I might loose them if my Dad had serious debt to pay!
Nicole:
Your Missouri attorney needs to coordinate with an Oklahoma attorney. Probate statute 677 requires "if the decedent died intestate, by attaching a duly certified copy of the order appointing the personal representative and an order distributing estate from the domiciliary estate."
If this is done an Ancillary Probate can be quickly done in Oklahoma. Otherwise a slightly longer Summary Probate is needed.
See my post:
Thank you so much for your response. I spoke with my attorney and he wants to include the mineral rights on the estate inventory then and move forward by contacting an attorney in OK. He has no idea how to place a value on the mineral rights though.
Unless there is an estate tax issue, I usually use a rule of thumb. That is 3 times the most recent years’ royalties paid to the last owner. If known. Generally, if I am handling a probate and there is minerals in another state, I may list the minerals and state “subject to the administration of X state”. In Oklahoma, a firm appraisal is usually not required.
Look for your dad’s name in www.okcountryrecords.com and see if he is listed. They only go back so far, so might not catch everything. Absolutely include in the probate as you need that “step up value” recorded. Also add a clause about any other future discovered minerals. The attorney should know how to word it. He may have minerals that are not leased that need to be included. If you want to share his name, I have another source to hunt through to catch some more possibilities.
My Dad’s name is Dale Tautfest, he inherited the rights from his mother Beatrice Tautfest who inherited them from her father William Fisher
He also inherited some from his Fathers side. Fathers name was Edward Tautfest and that line goes back to the last name Jantzen, I’m not sure how far.
Thanks so much for all the help. I’m so glad I stumbled upon this forum. I’m sure it’ll be very useful once I get this stuff settled and hopefully am able to get these mineral rights transferred to me.
Am looking at the royalties paid in the past and it seems very low. So I’d value my mineral rights at about $700 total using the 3X royalties formula. Sound right?