I wish to share my mineral rights with a good friend. I'm looking for the easiest way to do this.
They are presently drilling and I don't have any idea of the worth of the mineral rights.
Dear Mr. Prescott,
A properly prepared Quit Claim Deed will certainly accomplish your goals.
Dear Jack:
Quit Claim deeds usually do not convey anything, they are meant to release any interest held. You will probably need a Mineral Deed, signed, notarized and recorded in the County. A lawyer should be used for this conveyance. Please don't try this without legal counsel. Best of luck
I have also been in this boat times 20...Momma died in Texas where I live and has some 20 plus small holdings in Stephen's Co. I have 3 brothers who promised me these small production checks and we've been putting off this task of transferring to my name for 5 yrs. But now some of the Companies are Leasing and I have several substantial checks being held. There is no way that I could afford a Landman at 450$ daily. I am going to try this myself, using affadavit of Death, Death Cert., and Quit Claims for each legal description...I have so many that I hope I can get the deeds online for free, as most of the production checks only net me 10$ a yr. and I saw a site that sold Quitclaim forms for $14.95...Lawww dee me! If anyone can help me out...well, 200 heads gotta be better than one! Any ideas, besides keeping them in Momma's name will be appreciated..God Bless the little oilman....Terry
A quitclaim deed is not as "strong" an instrument of conveyance as a Mineral Deed with a warranty clause in it. If your friend were to try to sell the minerals at a future date, especially if the transaction were worth alot of money, a title company might get finicky about the Quitclaim Deed. It should not cost much, if any, more to prepare the Mineral Deed versus the QCD.
IF you use a Mineral Deed, then make sure to include a clause conveying all your "right, title, and interest" in the minerals under the tract of land at the time of conveyance, without specifying an exact amount that you THINK you own (presumably 100%). If you instead say, "I am conveying 100% of the minerals underneath XYZ piece of land," and then it turns out that you own less than that due to some court case or mineral deed way back in time that you did not know about, you will have some problems whenever development occurs.
Find a local title company, and speak to them about preparing the deeds to all of the properties you wish to transfer. You can probably negociate a fair price to get all of the title work done correctly, which will help you avoid problems and legal expenses down the road.