My sister and I inherited our father’s OGM rights in Ritchie County. My sister passed away 8 years ago. We have never officially registered ourselves as owners of the rights. The paperwork passed down through the family is very confusing especially the exact location of the rights. I do not live in WV. How do I go about registering the OGM in my name? Thank you very much, Cindy
You need WV legal assistance to make the ownership transfer. It becomes more difficult due to your sister`s passing. Therefore you probably want your sisters heirs to join the action and share the legal expense.
Thank you very much. Unfortunately my sister died unexpectedly under unusual circumstances and did not have a will. Her daughter’s can’t afford an attorney. I’m very grateful for your response.
There are a couple ways this might have to be done. If your sister’s estate is still open (unlikely due to passage of time) then the estate administrator or personal representative can sign a deed transferring the interests to you. If not, you may be able to file an exemplified copy of her will and some of her probate documents. That’s not always going to work because if the will and the probate documents don’t conform to West Virginia law then they won’t be acceptable here. The final method is to do an ancillary probate here in West Virginia. Good luck!
My mother was a Wigner and we also have OGM in Ritchie County. Wondering if we are related??
My guess is we probably are. Who was your mother? I don’t know what you have figured out but I’ve encountered a convoluted mess. My father was Robert Wigner son of Forest Ray Wigner.
Did your sister have an estate opened? Was any thing filed of record in Ritchie county for your father or sister (will, affidavit of heirship, etc.)? You will need to file appropriate documents in the county to reflect current ownership…basically think of it like a family tree. You need to be able to trace ownership from where it last left off in the records to current ownership.
This can be done via probate or affidavit of heirship depending upon the situation and different facts involved.
An attorney familiar with West Virginia can help. If you do not want to hire an attorney without more information, then maybe a landman or title consultant can assist in determining exactly what needs to be done to get everything sorted.
Have a great one!
Hi. Thank you for responding. My sister had no will and since our father passed another family member said there was nothing but shale there and no more oil. We never had our interests put into our name. I’m hoping to one day dig into all of this deeper but I can’t afford to hire an attorney and I can’t travel there because I have a husband in really poor health. I started following you. Thank you again for responding.
No problem at all! I am sorry to hear about your husband!
If you decide you want to try again and have more questions, then you know where to find us.
Have a great evening ~
Prayers for you and your husband. When you come up for air again, stay in touch. The current production in parts of WV are coming from the shales and are mostly gas, so depending upon where you are, it might be important to revisit this again.
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