Recording Question

Ownership and Title
21

Believe me, I've asked. The only thing anyone has told me was they heard he was dead. Mr. Gonzenbach's Landman was the first to contact me and he said all payments would be suspended until the paperwork was filed and recorded. They said that was 'the law', and so far, they have refused to even tell me how much is being held. All I can do is speculate. Perhaps I will know more after the meeting on Tuesday.

Whatever happened, it appears they all traded the same information. Otherwise all the checks wouldn't have stopped immediately.

Charles Emery Tooke III said:

Patty -

It certainly is strange that royalty payments were suspended before any information was sent to the companies. In more than 30 years in the industry, I've never heard of that happening.

Even if the companies knew of Mr. Laird's passing because he was in the industry, royalty payments shouldn't have been suspended.

I would be very interested to hear what the company(ies) tell you about that.

Charles

22

Good Lord 'n Butter, Woman -

Just how many companies that have suspended royalty payments are we talking about!? And what are the names of the companies?

No legitimate oil and gas company would ever suspend payments of royalties based upon a rumor or even word-of-mouth information of somebody's having passed away. It just isn't done that way.

Question for you: Is this simple royalty Interest, like an ordinary land owner or mineral interest owner would be receiving because they leased their land? Or is it Working Interest, where Mr. Laird invested in a well or series of wells and is a partner in the drilling?

Also, Patty, if you would be kind enough to allow me to ask: I can't recall whether you have told us who Mr. Laird was to you. Was he your husband? Your Father? I pray that I am not perceived as inappropriate in asking, but I just don't recall where you might have commented on that part.

Where is this meeting on Tuesday?

Wherever it is, even if it just a conference call, I think you should have an experienced Oil and Gas Attorney representing you. If you don't have one yet, you might want to consider postponing the meeting until you do. If it is a meeting "in person", then I would absolutely insist that you do.

If you want to go ahead with your meeting, then I advise that you go into it as an "information gathering effort" only and come out of it that way as well.

And DO NOT agree to sell anything. DO NOT sign anything.

I have a cousin who's father passed away a number of years ago that didn't know any better and the "Bad Guys" bought his interest in some 100+ wells out for what amounted to the monies held in suspense.

They "purchased" his interest for what amounted to his own money... and clipped him for what I estimated at the time to be something like $6 to $8 million dollars' worth of properties.

You need to move forward in very small, cautious steps until you learn a whole lot more about what it is that you have inherited.

Hope this helps -

Charles

23

I wasn't invited to the meeting. The Landmen from EOG, Pioneer, and Gonzenbach are meeting to do all the new division orders. The only reason I know about the meeting is because one of the Landmen mentioned it in an email. Here's an interesting bit of information. The only oil company that didn't suspend payments was Merit Energy. I think they have an old well on one of my plats in Jack County. Merit apparently didn't get the memo.

OK, you say this is unusual. These folks have been very matter of fact about all of it and they act like this is normal. Gonzenbach won't even tell me how much they are holding. Come to think of it Pioneer never gave me any numbers either. I was told payments are suspended whenever an owner dies and until the new owner proves they are entitled to the money. I had to give them the death certificate, a certified marriage certificate, and an affidavit of heirship that had been recorded in Montague County.

Keep in mind all I can talk about is Montague County. These people may be involved in other counties but so far the only one I've scratched the surface on is Montague. I started with that one because I think that's where most of the money is. After Montague is done I will move on to Jack and Wise next.

Let's see. Gonzenbach has leases and producing wells. And he already tried to buy me out. EOG has a big lease and their original period is done and their extension is up in December. They are probably working on a new offer. Pioneer had another big lease but that has just moved into production. The first 2 wells have come in and they are in the process of drilling 4 more. They are working on the first division orders on new wells. This is all very slow, I heard the wells have been in production since October. Pioneer says I will get three huge checks and then on the 4th month, that's probably the amount I can plan on every month. But you know how that goes.

Oh, the Mr. Laird who died was my husband. We were married for almost 40 years and he died very unexpectedly. He was a mechanical engineer and the mineral rights had been in his family for generations. His family is/was well known in the area. The surface land was a large cattle ranch. They sold the land but kept the mineral rights. A part of their property was taken by the state and it's now Amon G. Carter Lake. The plats in the other counties go back even further to properties they owned before they settled in Montague County. I believe they raised horses and cattle in Jack and Wise Counties.

The only thing I have signed so far is the pooling agreement on the new Pioneer Wells and I did have someone look at it and make sure my interests were protected. I would have preferred to not be involved in a pooling agreement but that's just the way things are done today and if I hadn't signed, I wouldn't get the money. It was pretty much a done deal and something my husband had already agreed to.

I was told I should receive the division order from Pioneer soon. And the DO from Gonzenbach should go out right after the meeting on Tuesday. I was told if I get it back to them ASAP, my first check will be cut on the 15th.

My fingers and toes are crossed!

Charles Emery Tooke III said:

Good Lord 'n Butter, Woman -

Just how many companies that have suspended royalty payments are we talking about!? And what are the names of the companies?

No legitimate oil and gas company would ever suspend payments of royalties based upon a rumor or even word-of-mouth information of somebody's having passed away. It just isn't done that way.

Question for you: Is this simple royalty Interest, like an ordinary land owner or mineral interest owner would be receiving because they leased their land? Or is it Working Interest, where Mr. Laird invested in a well or series of wells and is a partner in the drilling?

Also, Patty, if you would be kind enough to allow me to ask: I can't recall whether you have told us who Mr. Laird was to you. Was he your husband? Your Father? I pray that I am not perceived as inappropriate in asking, but I just don't recall where you might have commented on that part.

Where is this meeting on Tuesday?

Wherever it is, even if it just a conference call, I think you should have an experienced Oil and Gas Attorney representing you. If you don't have one yet, you might want to consider postponing the meeting until you do. If it is a meeting "in person", then I would absolutely insist that you do.

If you want to go ahead with your meeting, then I advise that you go into it as an "information gathering effort" only and come out of it that way as well.

And DO NOT agree to sell anything. DO NOT sign anything.

I have a cousin who's father passed away a number of years ago that didn't know any better and the "Bad Guys" bought his interest in some 100+ wells out for what amounted to the monies held in suspense.

They "purchased" his interest for what amounted to his own money... and clipped him for what I estimated at the time to be something like $6 to $8 million dollars' worth of properties.

You need to move forward in very small, cautious steps until you learn a whole lot more about what it is that you have inherited.

Hope this helps -

Charles

24

Sounds to me like you've got a pretty good handle on everything. And, I don't know about the Gonzenbach guy, but Pioneer and EOG have excellent reputations.

I subscribe to an online service called DrillingInfo (DI). It has just about everything the Texas Rail Road Commission (RRC) has as far as well records go. If you will send me your legal descriptions I'll be happy to pull up what I can on your properties and wells.

If you want to do that privately, you'll have to accept my offer of "friendship" on the Forum in order for me to provide you my direct email address.

25

Would this be worthwhile for me to join? Is it expensive? I'll go take a look.

I do have some of the plats in PDF with some info but I still have a lot of work to do. And you probably know, all legal descriptions are not the same, even for one piece of property. I have started a spreadsheet with legal descriptions, plats, and leasing/drilling information. I figure that's probably a good way to start learning how to manage what I have. First I need to KNOW what I have.

Of course I accepted your offer of friendship. That's the whole reason why I'm here. I want to learn and meet people who understand the industry. I'm thrilled I found this place. And I'm one of those people who will hang around and share what I have learned as well.

Charles Emery Tooke III said:

Sounds to me like you've got a pretty good handle on everything. And, I don't know about the Gonzenbach guy, but Pioneer and EOG have excellent reputations.

I subscribe to an online service called DrillingInfo (DI). It has just about everything the Texas Rail Road Commission (RRC) has as far as well records go. If you will send me your legal descriptions I'll be happy to pull up what I can on your properties and wells.

If you want to do that privately, you'll have to accept my offer of "friendship" on the Forum in order for me to provide you my direct email address.

26

DrillingInfo is $1600 and change a year for the Basic Package for the State of Texas. And then you'd have to learn how to navigate the system. If you are talking about a large number of properties and wells, it might be worth your while. Otherwise, I would be happy to do it for you.

Discovering what all you have inherited might take a while. The only items required to be included in an Inventory for a Probate matter are taxable items, which would include producing properties. But you might very well own many additional mineral properties that aren't presently producing. The least expensive way to discover those is to wait until a Landman calls you and tells you that you own something.

27

yes unfortunately one can not share information privately in this forum unless friendship requests are accepted