Long story short, i live in WI, Grandma owned land in Dunn County, sold most of the land but kept mineral rights. Grandma left it to her kids, hence my mother, mother passed away. To get her share of rights how do i get it back to probate court to change it from my mothers name into my name? ANY ONE?
Is it still owned of record by your grandmother? How do you know it passed from your grandmother to your mother? To complete the transfer the ownership, if not done already, you will need to hire an attorney to probate both estates. He/she will get a personal representative appointed who can then execute/record a personal representative’s deed to the heirs. If you don’t want to front that expense now, a short-cut is to simply record an Affidavit of Heirship (their are a number of forms you can find online). Oftentimes, operators and lessee will rely on these, but will ultimately require the probate route before paying proceeds from production. Hope that helps!
My family went through the same thing - grandfather in our case. You do want to get this probated, sooner rather than later. We chose the firm of Hardy, Maus & Nordsven because they had experience in mineral rights law and are in ND.
That was about 10 years ago. And we are glad we did. About 5 years ago some unscrupulous persons in ND tried to claim some of our mineral rights by filing a “quiet deed” claim in an adjacent county, sending the notice to a defunct P.O. box used by my deceased grandfather. We used them again to defend our rights.
So, it is worth it to get the rights properly probated to the correct generation.
Hope this helps.
Very important to get it properly probated. North Dakota has a dormant minerals act which requires minerals that are not in production to be claimed every 20 years (if I remember correctly). If you do not, the minerals can be claimed by the surface owner.
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Yes so important. Our family are living in Scandinavia and we where close to lose our acres to the surface owner back in 2012. We lost some acres in the settlement but “nothing” compared lose in court. We still have 238 acres and has given us around 3,000,000 since 2013.
In North Dakota you need to file a “Statement of Claim of Mineral Rights” with the County register of deeds. You can get the form from them. There is a filing fee. This needs to be done at least every 20-years, otherwise the surface owner can file a quiet claim on your minerals and take them.
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I have learned I have mineral rights that my name surfaces on and I am know my deceased husband had purchased investments back in estimate 2008 or earlier and I have been approached from oil company to purchase I have learned on the information that there is wells on the property and I have not information of what the wells names are to get the process updated and find out where the royalties are or as if holding. How do I get this information as title company can not provide me the information they don’t have ability to what leases and wells names and information is. It is in Dunn county. Who can I call or check on getting this information?
I am sorry for your loss.
Was there a probate? Were the minerals listed in the probate? You do not want to sell until you know what you have and get into pay status on the wells. The company wanting to buy wants those royalties. You can then decide if their offer is enough or if you want to collect the royalties. Do you have any old check stubs from oil companies? Have you gone through the bank statements to see if there are deposits of royalties?
Your husband’s name should be on any legal documents filed at the Dunn county courthouse. That is the best place to start. They may have digital files or you may have to go to the courthouse or hire a landman to go for you.
You can also search the unclaimed funds at the State Treasurer’s office to see if they are holding money.
The offering company knows enough about you to know what the section, township and range are. If you post that, several of us can look up the area and tell you if you have wells or not.
You are wise to slow down and try to get as informed as possible.
Thank you for the information. No we did not do a probate. I do not have copies of those bank’s statements it was 2011 when he past. All the documents and any statements at gone. I do have the information - Leases in ND: County Gross Acreage SEC TWP/ABS RNG/BLK $/NMA Royalty* 94W NRA Dunn County sec 13 TWP145N County Unit Gross Acreage 640 information that was told to me is that there wells and it show production, according to other info I do not have or know where the royalties have been going. I would have to k ow what next I can do.
There are at least two wells and maybe two more depending upon the well paths that go through 13-145N-94W. I suggest that you contact Marathon Oil Company as they are the operator. They will need your husband’s name and your name. You may have to do the probate in order to get into pay status.
The wells are Angelita Schollmeyer 34-24H , Scott Gaugler #14-24H. These have been online since 2008-10. Looks like there may be a couple more than are fairly newer permits. Bryden 11-13H and Pletan 11-13TFH.
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