Owner lives in Kansas City, MO area - wells are in TX. It’s probably more of a will and probate issue (with a will not being probated and wrong person continued to receive the royalties for 18 months) but it might be helpful for the attorney to also be familiar with TX O&G laws. So hoping to find that combination.
What you probably need first is an attorney for the state of the deceased. The will must be properly probated in the state of residence of the deceased owner in the correct county. Then the probate is filed in the county or counties where the wells are located in TX. Some states require an ancillary or foreign probate. Several attorneys are listed in the Directories tab above.
If you probate the will in Missouri, an executor will be appointed. Then the simplest thing to do may be to have a Texas attorney prepare a simple executor’s deed and file that in each county where the estate owns mineral interests. A deed is more generally accepted by oil companies than filing probate proceedings, and the filing of a deed will keep your chain of title accurate.
As I recall, a Will must be filed for probate in Missouri within 1 year from the date of the decedent’s death if it is to be admitted to probate. You need to determine which probate options are available in MO, which will determine the probate procedure to use in Texas for the oil and gas interests located there.
The probate matters need to be cleaned up in MO before any thing is done in Texas.
In Texas, any creation of documents that affect title to land is deemed to be the practice of law and requires an attorney licensed in Texas to prepare the document.
Thank you. with new developments, we can go forward with this.
Thank you - it’s been over a year
I think she is well on the way with this, thanks to getting much needed information from the forum here! Thank you!
Every state has different laws. For example, in Oklahom I can probate the estate of a nonresident even if there was no probate in the home state. If a Missouri probate is otherwise unnecessary, check with a Texas attorney first.
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