I am assisting my father, who is the owner of interest in Section 01, Township 19 N, Range 03 East. I received a letter from Devon stating we have to record the Decrees of Distribution and administer the estates of my father’s parents in an OK court. Does anyone know what this entails? We reside in South Dakota, so it is not feasible for us to take care of this. I have spoken with a law firm in OK, but they want to charge $2500, which seems very expensive? Thanks for any insight you can offer.
If the attorney is probating the two estates that does not sound out of line. I've seen $2000-3000 commonly charged for a single estate.
Also, you need to work with your father to do some planning to keep this from happening to his heirs.
Holli, My father's estate was probated for a reasonable cost.
Have you been though probate in South Dakota? If you have been through Probate and have a final decree, have his attorney file a copy in the Payne County courthouse.
Typically that would be done as part of probate for each county you claim property in around the country.
Reilly,
In my opinion, that is a waste of time and filing fees. Oklahoma does not recognize foreign probates in that manner. Some states do, but most I have looked into are like Oklahoma and they do not. Yes, the clerk will record that document, but that does not mean it will clear clouded ownership.
An ancillary or summary probate will be necessary make the property "marketable" under the title standards act.
It is possible that the purchaser (oil and gas producer) will accept the foreign probate and an affidavit of heirship to put a well in paying status. It comes with a risk to them and their attorneys usually advice against it in a title opinion. Sometimes they choose to take the risk if it involves small amounts of money. We are seeing all to often that they will lease under those circumstances, but will not pay for production until the title is marketable.
I'm not an attorney, but have seen this happen several times with those that I have been assisting. I've also seen it discussed many time in seminars for mineral owners, landmen, and title analysts as well as information intended for bar members and oil gas law materials.
Reilly Newie said:
Have you been though probate in South Dakota? If you have been through Probate and have a final decree, have his attorney file a copy in the Payne County courthouse.
Typically that would be done as part of probate for each county you claim property in around the country.
That's interesting. I have some paying minerals in Texas I need to transfer in my name. I'm going to send them a copy of my final decree and see how they respond.
Texas is one of the ones I know of the will accept (likely conditionally) a foreign probate.
I would suggest obtaining an authenticated copy of the complete probate package. That is authenticated vs certified. The court clerk should know what that is, but in addition to being stamped by the clerk, it will also be signed by a judge, and again by the clerk (certifying the Judges signature, I guess). I'm only vaguely familiar with this, someone with TX experience should be able to help you.
If you'll send me a friend request and a message with your email address, I can send you a couple of documents that may help you.
Just sending the info to the operator my get the payments in your name, but getting the minerals to show up in your name with a title search can be a chore. Texas also taxes your producing minerals. Make sure you take care of that as well.
Getting Texas to put it in my name was easy. Getting Chevron to divert the money to me has been a lot less fun. They sent a mountain of paperwork for me to fill out last year and it just frustrated me. A simple copy of the final decree stamped by the county courthouse was all I needed for everything else I had to deal with.
I will hopefully have this dealt with soon.
Thanks for your offer!
Reilly