My father, who passed away in 2001, had an uncle living in Ponca City who signed over a Mineral Deed to him back in 1952. This deed laid in a metal box until recently when my mother passed away, and I found it after being approved as her Personal Representative by the Probate Court.
The Description on the Mineral Deed is as follows:
The Southwest Quarter (SW/4) of Section Eight (8), Township
Nineteen (19) North, Range One (1) West of the Indian Meridian,
Payne County, Oklahoma.
It also mentions:
(It is the intention of this instrument to convey an undivided
2 2/3rd acre mineral interest.)
containing 160 acres, more or less …………A scanned copy can be forwarded if that will help! I currently don't know where to start?
How do I find out whether there is any value associated with this Mineral Deed? And whether there is any drilling still active at this location?
It looks like devon energy has/had a lease on the land.
http://okcountyrecords.com/search.php?county=060
I put your last name in this site, http://www.occeweb.com/MOEAsearch/index.aspx
to see if any monies were being held, but nothing come up under that name.
Thank you for your fast response. I tried both the suggested links to no avail. I also emailed the County Clerk Linda Hatfield asking for assistance she might provide. I'll keep on looking with an openn mind as I get educated..Gary
JJinNewkirk said:
Gary,
Was your fathers estate probated? There is value in the 2 1/2 acres of minerals and I bet you can get them leased if you just call Devon. T S Dudley leased for them but I am dealing with T S Dudley and they will never ever return a phone call, no one there will so I'd just go direct to Devon, they are pretty decent to deal with.
No Joe, my father's estate was not Probated as my mother still lived and everything went to her automatically. My mother's estate is Probated and I have been approved as her Personal Representative. I wonder if not being Probated makes a difference? I do have his Will and I am named as Executor for his Estate if my mother choses not to accept that role, and I have taken care of my mother's finances ever since my father passed away.
How do I get a hold of Devon, and is there anyone in particular I should ask for? And I'm wondering if I should get some formal representation to contact Devon?
Mineral Joe said:
Gary,
Was your fathers estate probated? There is value in the 2 1/2 acres of minerals and I bet you can get them leased if you just call Devon. T S Dudley leased for them but I am dealing with T S Dudley and they will never ever return a phone call, no one there will so I'd just go direct to Devon, they are pretty decent to deal with.
Is there any other names that it could possibly be under?
I am just glancing through partnership papers between Devon Energy and Sinopee International , Beiging China, to develop this area. Looks like they have leases for most of the land around there, there are literally,hundreds and hundreds of names, trusts, gov land, there is even a map showing all the land they plan to develop, dated may of 2012, by the way.
Gary,
From what you said the minerals are in your fathers name of record not your mothers and that was why I asked about his estate being probated. You can call Devon at 405-228-4800 option 5 and tell them you need to speak to someone in the land department about leasing. They have leased in your fathers section and would probably lease those. I would just record an affidavit or heirship, it will only cost you $13
I received a note back from the County Clerks office who informed me that since my Mineral Deed was a non-Participating Mineral Deed, I cannot lease, but if they start drilling I would receive monies. Therefore, they advised that I get the Deed transferred to my name so the folks paying money out could at least find me. Now I'm wondering, "How do I go about getting the deed transferred"? I live up in Minneapolis, MN
Mineral Joe said:
Gary,
From what you said the minerals are in your fathers name of record not your mothers and that was why I asked about his estate being probated. You can call Devon at 405-228-4800 option 5 and tell them you need to speak to someone in the land department about leasing. They have leased in your fathers section and would probably lease those. I would just record an affidavit or heirship, it will only cost you $13
Have you read all of this deed and it stated non-participating, you didn't mention it when you wrote what was written on the deed. Is it this deed or another that states non-participating?
As I stated, I'd just record an affidavit of heirship. The only legal way to get proper marketable title is to do a quiet title or probate your fathers estate since the non-participating interest is in his name of record. I would then send Devon a copy of the recorded document.
Since your really not positive as to what your fathers interest is, this advice is based on the name on title of record is in your fathers name only with no joint tenant, life estate and no trust.
Yes Joe, it's a Non-Participating Mineral Deed. Not being familar with any of this I didn't realize though words meant anything in particular. Ignorance is the best way to explain it! And there is only one name on the document. I'm going to include one .jpg file image of the Deed for you viewing. Hope you can read the content of the Deed. Appreciate your time on this! If you'd like to see Page 2 of the deed I can send it too.
Gary,
We have all been in your place with all facets of our life, that being inexperienced, we all learn something new everyday. I would want to see the rest of the document because the first thing I see from your post of the back side of the document is the words "limited term".
Thanks for the kind words Joe. I'm unable to get the image small enough to load here, but here is some of the verbage from a page of the deed.
"The Southwest Quarter (SW/4) of Section Eight (8), Township
Nineteen (19) North, Range One (1) West of the Indian Meridian,
Payne County, Oklahoma.
(It is the intention of this instrument to convey an undivided 2 2/3rd acre mineral interest.)
containing 160 acres, more or less …………
It further states:
TO HAVE AND TO HOLD The above described property and easement with all and singular the rights, privileges, and appurtenances thereunto or in any wise belonging to said Grantee, his successors, personal representatives, administrators, executors, and assigns for a period of 10 years from July 7, 1952 and as long thereafter as oil, gas or other minerals is produced therefrom, ………….."
Gary,
I am sad to say that this interest has expired. It looks like there have been over 20 wells drilled in that section but none were in that quarter and spacing has been 40 acres according to Oklahoma Corporation commission records. That interest expired on it's own on term and lack of production back in July 7, 1962 so all you have is the memento.
I'm sad to hear that too Joe! Well, guess I'll give up my effort and tell my siblings there is no income to be expected from this site in the future. Again, I thank you for your time and effort.
May you and your family have a wonder Holiday season!
One more thing Joe, and this is probably a waste of time. I found what I think is a record of the location noted on the Mineral Deed. I'll include an image and ask if it's correct based on the legal description on the Deed?
Gary,
The expired deed is from the SW 1/4 of the section. The 1073 is an operator transfer of a well drilled in 1981. It is kind of odd that is was transfered a few months before it was plugged. Regardless its spacing covers the S 1/2 or the SE 1/4 so it was not in the area that was deeded anyhow.
Thanks for the response Rick. I did notice the diagram on this form identified the well (small dot in diagram) as being in SE 1/4; however, the form includes mention of SW 1/4 as being included in the transfer of ownership. At least I think that's what is says, based on my understanding, which isn't much.
I've run across 3 other documents that also reference the same SW 1/4 & SE 1/4 half of the SEC 8 TWP 19N Rge 1W location, but could find none that specifically identified the SW 1/4 location as being drilled or plugged.
I believe you are talking about the well location on the form that shows SW ¼ SE ¼ SE ¼
Add an “of the” in between those so you start of reading it backwards as you locate it.
The “well location” is the SW/4 of the SE/4 of the SE/4
Also I noticed a typo in my statement above
“spacing covers the S 1/2 or the SE ¼”
That should have been:
spacing covers the S 1/2 "OF" the SE ¼
So regardless of where the well is located, (because of directional and horizontal drilling) you have to look into the spacing unit of the well to see what mineral rights are affected.
You will see on this one they outlined the lease/unit. So you are looking at a unit that covers 80 acres. The S/2 of the SE/4
