We live in California. My mother in law passed away in Arkansas in 2013. We recently found out that the Arkansas Auditor was holding unclaimed property for her. Most of the money was Royalties from Marathon Oil Co. My FIL is 83 and still lives in AR and said she didnt have a will. My husband filed the claim and was told we needed to send a copy of her death cert and fill out an affidavit of heirship which we did.
Two months later we received a letter from the Arkansas Auditor indicating we needed to provide them with a copy of an updated Division Order or letter from Marathon Oil company showing your ownership percentage in the royalty proceeds in question.
We contacted Marathon Oil about said Division Order and this was there response
“Before we could release anything on the account, we would need you release documentation showing you are executor or personal representative of her estate. I have also attached the heirship letter outlining what documents will be required to transfer the mineral interest to the heirs for your review”
They provided us with a “Property Exhibit List” and said…
Typically, to transfer a real property interest in the State of North Dakota, a North Dakota probate must be completed. Therefore, in order for us to transfer ownership, copies of the following items should be provided:
- Recorded Personal Representative’s Deed of Distribution with Letters Testamentary attached, along
with Order of Proof of Authority from the North Dakota court (if ancillary probate)
- W-9s containing the name, address, and Social Security Number or Tax ID Number for any heirs
However, if the decedent owned a life estate interest only, please provide us with a copy of the recorded death certificate or a recorded Affidavit Terminating Life Estate. In the event the decedent owned the interest in joint tenancy, please provide us with a copy of the recorded death certificate or a recorded Affidavit Terminating Joint Tenancy.
PLEASE NOTE: Applicable documents must be filed of record in the county where the properties are located.
Anyway my question is can we do anything 12 years after the fact and if so is it worth trying to get an attorney to help us??
Yes, you can do the estate work after the fact. Given the Arkansas intestate rules, it would probably benefit both your FIL and the heirs to have the title cleared. The state will not tell you how much you have in suspense, so not sure how it will balance out with the legal fees.
If you want to share the section, township and range, we can comment on the number of wells that were in the section, so that might help you decide what to do.
First, I am not an attorney. But, I did have to deal with a similar issue, so I am just sharing my experience. There are a couple of questions here. In the first case, I needed to probate both my grandfather’s and mother’s estates to get the ownership straightened out. This was more than a decade after my grandfather’s death and about a decade in the other case. So, this can be done well after the fact, it just takes perseverance. I would recommend you get a ND lawyer experienced in this area of the law to represent your interests, as there is a lot to be considered re filing as you have already discovered.
On the question of whether it is worth it has to do with the value of the mineral interests, and valuing such things is a whole other problem. All I can say is that you should expect the probate work to cost thousands. We did our probate work 2009 through 2011 and it cost around $3k.
thanks so much for the response. i think this is what you referred to section/township/range…??
T 144N R 95W SEC 17 ALL DUNN, NORTH DAKOTA
T 144N R 95W SEC 20 ALL DUNN, NORTH DAKOTA
T 144N R 95W SEC 4 ALL DUNN, NORTH DAKOTA
T 144N R 95W SEC 9 ALL DUNN, NORTH DAKOTA
T 144N R 94W SEC 4 ALL DUNN, NORTH DAKOTA
T 144N R 94W SEC 9 ALL DUNN, NORTH DAKOTA
ok thanks-good to know we can still pursue after this many years-guess we will have to decide once we find out more about the value. thanks again for the input we may be able to at least get a free consultation from an attorney in ND…
T 144N R 95W SEC 17 ALL DUNN, NORTH DAKOTA T 144N R 95W SEC 20 ALL DUNN, NORTH DAKOTA Conoco Phillips has the Kovaloff 41-17H with sec 20 horizontal well. Has about half of its reserves left. Kovaloff 21-17H with Sec 20 horizontal well produced from 2008-2013. Room for more infill wells.
T 144N R 95W SEC 4 ALL DUNN, NORTH DAKOTA T 144N R 95W SEC 9 ALL DUNN, NORTH DAKOTA. Conoco Phillips has the Dirkach 42-9H will with sec 4/9. Has about 30% of reserves left. Conoco Phillips has the Dirkach 14-9H will with sec 4/9. Has about 35% of reserves left. Room for infill wells
T 144N R 94W SEC 4 ALL DUNN, NORTH DAKOTA T 144N R 94W SEC 9 ALL DUNN, NORTH DAKOTA. Conoco Phillips has the Schollmeyer 21-4H horizontal well. Has about half of its reserves left. Room for more infill wells.
Your engineering value would be based upon the net mineral acres, the spacing, royalty, production remaining and price for product.
not sure what any of that means but thank you!!!. I guess we need to dig deeper no pun intended hahahah