I was contact a while back by antero telling me I was heir to mineral rights in Doddridge county WV. I know nothing at all about this and Antero has yet to supply me any real information other then they keep changing the quantity of acres. My question is my grandmother was left these rights by her parents who surname was Ford. Someone has to have been paying the takes on the mineral rights all these years because none of my grandmother heirs where aware but I believe there were eight children left rights of which my grandmother was one. Her maiden names was ford and her married name was Wells. She had 4 children who she left her portion to but after that they rights got lost along the way. So one of the decendents from her siblings would have to be paying the taxes right? I have no idea who to contact or what to do, Antero does not say exactly where the land is so I have nothing to go on in terms of looking it up. So I guess my first question are there any surname of Ford on this website and could we be related if not how do I find out anything? I live in Washington State which is probably as far away from West Virginia one can get in the lower 48. Any help would be appreciated. I am not the most internet suave so if someone wishes to talk over the phone I can call you if not I can continue to work through my friend to sent these messages. Thank you Michael
Hi Michael,
I am not the expert at this, but it may help if Antero has told you the district of Doddridge co., like "Grant" or "Central" or "McClellan". Also, if they have told you the tract numbers, that would be even more useful, such as 5-14-20 or 5-03-22.1. Have they given you any information like that? There are a lot of Fords in Doddridge, so this information would be helpful. Even if they gave you information such as "the lands as surrounded by the Ashcraft heirs on the north..." might help some of us who have maps look up some information for you. On our lease it says the "Charlotte Ford heirs" are on the west of our tracts. There are "Old Farm" maps available that were made around 1905-10 of many of the counties in WV, listing the property (mineral property) owners of the various tracts of land at that time. These maps were made for the oil and gas companies. I have purchased a few of them that cover the McClelland district and maybe some surrounding areas. If that area (the northeastern section of Doddridge) is your area, I could look at my maps and see if you recognize any of the family Ford names listed there and tell you what tracts they were on (at least back then).
When you find out the tracts there are ways to find out who owns the land now and I am pretty sure there are ways to find out who has been paying the taxes on the mineral rights (in WV, it is very common that the surface owner does not own the mineral rights). There are also lists published online of delinquent tax properties, but that is not useful to you if you don't know your property and/or it is not delinquent. I have been told by someone in charge of the delinquent properties who has been (or not been) paying the taxes on certain properties. I am not certain you can figure that information out if your taxes ARE being paid.
There are other people on here that know a lot more than I do about specifics.
As far as lease signing, don't rush into anything.
Hang in there!
Stephanie
Great advice, Stephanie!
Also, it's common for the mineral interests to not be on the tax books. I've seen loads of properties where when the surface and coal were divided, the coal was listed in the tax books as a mineral interest. (It is, technically, a mineral interest after all.) Then, when the oil and gas was severed it wasn't listed, sometimes because the clerk thought the minerals were already being taxed, sometimes because someone just made a mistake. So the oil and gas was never taxed.
This isn't going to hurt you. Most counties are just letting these untaxed interests remain off the books until they start producing gas. The taxes for unproducing minerals are just a few dollars a year most of the time, and the courthouse staff are so busy, that it's just not worth their time.
Thanks for the explanation, Kyle. I hadn't heard it quite like that, and it makes a lot of sense.
When I called the tax assessor's office, they basically told me the same thing ... I would get a tax ticket a year or so after I started receiving royalties based upon what I received. There were no "back taxes" for my mineral rights.
Ok for all of those that offered to help me here is I information I believe you are asking for:
1. Property in located in district of Greenbriar, Doddridge county, on the waters of Buckeye Fork.
2. On the north lands of O'Conner Hrs
on the east by lands PS Burbridge, on the south by lands of Nancy Davis on the west by lands of O'Conner Hrs, Tract or parcel number 4-3-8 and 8.1. It says 23 gross acres whether it actually containts more or less. 15% royalties $1500.00 per net acres signing bonus however they said my portion was $200 so that must me there are many heirs. So does anyone know if they are drilling there or what this all means and it does talk about pooling. Mike from Washington State replying to those who expressed interest in helping me learn.
Hi Michael,
Looking up the tax map and parcel numbers you gave, it shows that it lies on Buckeye Creek where Buffalo Calf Run comes into the Creek. County Road 15 runs north and south through there, and County Road 42 intersects Road 15 on the property, coming from the east. There are 2 older wells on the property it looks like, 017-00579 and 017-00605 https://apps.dep.wv.gov/oog/wellsearch_new.cfm
If you go to this website: http://tagis.dep.wv.gov/oog/ and put one or the other of those numbers on the API search you will see a blue circle. Zoom in on the circle. When you get close enough you will see the Creek, the Run, and the roads. The 017-00605 well is on the C. R. Ford farm (put that API number into this : https://apps.dep.wv.gov/oog/wellsearch_new.cfm ). It is abandoned, drilled in 1962 and last producing in 1990. The other was drilled in 1961 and is (barely) still producing. Commonwealth Energy is the operator. The farm name on this is Webber.
If you go out from these you will see some things that look sort of like red stars, with some long orange lines coming out. Those are new wells, and the orange lines are horizontal legs. It looks like there are some of these near that property, and they probably want to put a well there soon. Or at least have the horizontal leg go under it.
I found (2012 is the latest information) several people who were paying taxes on 1/5 of 1/6 oil and gas on 23 acres Buffalo Calf Run and I expect those are relatives of you. Also a Baptist Church in Salem WV that might have been given some interest, or maybe that is a different tract.
I know you will have more questions.
I know that is a lot to think about. They should offer you more per acre and a higher royalty percent.
Nice work, Nancy.
I agree, you should negotiate for a higher % and bonus. I think some people are getting 18% and $3000/acre.
There are other things that should be negotiated/changed on the lease, and if you can afford to get a WV lawyer, it is highly recommended. Otherwise you may leave yourself unprotected on a lease. There is a lot of info on this website if you are up for "doing it yourself", but it takes a lot of time to research and learn about everything. And you can never feel sure if you really know everything....so the best thing to do is to hire a lawyer to go over the lease with you.
I am speaking from experience on that - I didn't hire a lawyer because of having no money to do so, and I spent a lot of time researching and did my best on the lease, but I am sure it would be better with a lawyer's help.
Thank you so much for the information you provided thus far but how do I see a list of people paying taxes that may be my relatives?
Nancy Mosley said:
Hi Michael,
Looking up the tax map and parcel numbers you gave, it shows that it lies on Buckeye Creek where Buffalo Calf Run comes into the Creek. County Road 15 runs north and south through there, and County Road 42 intersects Road 15 on the property, coming from the east. There are 2 older wells on the property it looks like, 017-00579 and 017-00605 https://apps.dep.wv.gov/oog/wellsearch_new.cfm
If you go to this website: http://tagis.dep.wv.gov/oog/ and put one or the other of those numbers on the API search you will see a blue circle. Zoom in on the circle. When you get close enough you will see the Creek, the Run, and the roads. The 017-00605 well is on the C. R. Ford farm (put that API number into this : https://apps.dep.wv.gov/oog/wellsearch_new.cfm ). It is abandoned, drilled in 1962 and last producing in 1990. The other was drilled in 1961 and is (barely) still producing. Commonwealth Energy is the operator. The farm name on this is Webber.
If you go out from these you will see some things that look sort of like red stars, with some long orange lines coming out. Those are new wells, and the orange lines are horizontal legs. It looks like there are some of these near that property, and they probably want to put a well there soon. Or at least have the horizontal leg go under it.
I found (2012 is the latest information) several people who were paying taxes on 1/5 of 1/6 oil and gas on 23 acres Buffalo Calf Run and I expect those are relatives of you. Also a Baptist Church in Salem WV that might have been given some interest, or maybe that is a different tract.
I know you will have more questions.
I know that is a lot to think about. They should offer you more per acre and a higher royalty percent.
Ok I was able to figure out through names that CR Ford was my great grandfather with my grandmother Georgia born in 1897 his daughter. What I don't know how to do is look up the property tax records for West Virginia and see the peoples names you are referring that could be my relatives. How would I do that?
mina edmunds said:
Thank you so much for the information you provided thus far but how do I see a list of people paying taxes that may be my relatives?
Nancy Mosley said:Hi Michael,
Looking up the tax map and parcel numbers you gave, it shows that it lies on Buckeye Creek where Buffalo Calf Run comes into the Creek. County Road 15 runs north and south through there, and County Road 42 intersects Road 15 on the property, coming from the east. There are 2 older wells on the property it looks like, 017-00579 and 017-00605 https://apps.dep.wv.gov/oog/wellsearch_new.cfm
If you go to this website: http://tagis.dep.wv.gov/oog/ and put one or the other of those numbers on the API search you will see a blue circle. Zoom in on the circle. When you get close enough you will see the Creek, the Run, and the roads. The 017-00605 well is on the C. R. Ford farm (put that API number into this : https://apps.dep.wv.gov/oog/wellsearch_new.cfm ). It is abandoned, drilled in 1962 and last producing in 1990. The other was drilled in 1961 and is (barely) still producing. Commonwealth Energy is the operator. The farm name on this is Webber.
If you go out from these you will see some things that look sort of like red stars, with some long orange lines coming out. Those are new wells, and the orange lines are horizontal legs. It looks like there are some of these near that property, and they probably want to put a well there soon. Or at least have the horizontal leg go under it.
I found (2012 is the latest information) several people who were paying taxes on 1/5 of 1/6 oil and gas on 23 acres Buffalo Calf Run and I expect those are relatives of you. Also a Baptist Church in Salem WV that might have been given some interest, or maybe that is a different tract.
I know you will have more questions.
I know that is a lot to think about. They should offer you more per acre and a higher royalty percent.
Hi Michael, I found that by using a service that I have to pay for. As far as I know, there is no online searching for Doddridge County tax records. Some other counties have that service.
I will send you a message.