My mother inherited 16 acres of land with the minerals in an undivided 40 acres with her siblings. She just passed and it will now be divided by her four children. Some want to sell their minerals and some want to keep them. How do I determine the value of the minerals?
Condolences on the passing of your mom.
Welcome to the forum. There are quite a threads on the forum pertaining to evaluating mineral rights. You will need to make sure that her estate is properly probated in order for the title to pass to the children. When my mother passed, we had a professional engineer evaluate her acreage as part of the probate. The minerals are usually valued at the date of death or the executor can choose a date six months after if that is more favorable for estate or capital gains purposes. The minerals will be evaluated for production life if there is any production (not currently) and they also have value if the area is being leased. (which it is)
For those that want to sell, the market is really down right now. They might want to consider the pros and cons of waiting a bit until prices go up. They have to have clear title before they sell, so the process of probate may take care of the time frame. There is active leasing in the area, so someone might be thinking of drilling. Another factor to consider.
Thank you for the condolences. Mom’s land and minerals are in a trust and I am the trustee. All paperwork is up to date. I like your suggestion to hire a professional engineer to evaluate her acreage. There is no current production but I she had two other small amount of interest on other property in Love and Carter County that do have production on them now. One of which is currently leased. I know nothing about minerals and would like to have some education so I can make a wise decision. If your from Oklahoma could you tell me the name of the engineer you used? Thanks, Debbie
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