Our father had mineral rights in Billings County and passed away in February. There was no will. Most, if not all, are currently under lease. Me & two siblings are heirs. What is the best way to research exactly what land he had the rights to and how do we get it transferred into our names?
Old probates if your father inherited, tax rolls if he owned surface, search of the recorders records in the county/s in which your father and grandfather/grandmother and possibly great grandfather/ great grandmother lived. You may get lucky and your father recorded a statement of claim, or you find the recorded probate if your father inherited. Otherwise it could be a lot of searching.
To get it into your name will require a probate of estates or a quiet title action. I'd lean towards the quiet title action as opposed to doing multiple probates.
What about an Affidavit of Heirship if there is no Probate of record, R. W., instead of a quiet-title action? Wouldn't that be much less expensive, even if he hired an attorney to type up the AOH?
Pete, while I am sure that some operators will pay on the basis of an AOH if the interest is very small, for even a handful of acres the usually want the probate in ND. In ND unlike Oklahoma, interest does not accrue if you have a title defect, so the operator has the use of your money indefinitely and at no cost until you clear your title. There must be many millions of dollars held in suspense in ND, but not in suspense accounts it's just a line in a ledger, a free loan at zero interest for the operator. There is no incentive other than public relations for an operator in ND to pay on the basis of an affidavit of heirship. In Ok there would be 6% interest as an incentive.
I have heard of a lot of operators in ND that have gone more than a year before paying people who had good title but I think it has improved since word has gotten out about the interest owed if you have good title and since the law was passed that the operator must pay, whereas before you had to request interest. That the legislature thought they had to pass a law saying the operator must pay the interest without being asked should give you some idea of how bad it must have been.
Pete Wrench said:
What about an Affidavit of Heirship if there is no Probate of record, R. W., instead of a quiet-title action? Wouldn't that be much less expensive, even if he hired an attorney to type up the AOH?