They sent me a "Paid up" oil and gas lease, now what?

West Virginia Mineral Rights Doddridge County, WV
1

This is all very confusing and we live out of state which makes it worse. But first, a little background.

About 2 years ago my husband's cousin calls us. She received a call from an attorney in WV. After verifying that Noel really was related to her mother, the attorney tells her about some property that the attorney believes belonged to her maternal grandfather. Anyway, 2 years later it boils down to my husband, his sister ( their parents are deceased) & his uncle (aunt deceased) are heirs to 52 acres(maybe) in Doddridge County. Antero Mining want to lease it for 5 years with a 5 year possible extension and is sending everyone that's a heir a lease. Now, it looks pretty straight forward, but we were still gong to have an attorney look at it however, here in Arizona we can't find an attorney that knows anything about this kind of mineral rights law. We don't really know where the property is. The tax parcel numbers listed on the lease don't really pin point it and I did some searching on the county/state websites and can't find who is listed on or any deed for the property. We really don't know what this is getting us into.

Any help or information would greatly be appreciated.

thanks,

Mark and Clare

2

Unless you know someone, it will be difficult to negotiate a lease with the best terms. If you'd like to discuss feel free to call me (304) 215-1120, or email [email protected].

3

Mark & Clare,

First I recommend you have a WV Attorney review the lease(s), not one in Arizona that does not know the WV Industry. Secondly, I would NOT do an automatic renewal, limit the lease to 5 years maximum.

On the lease, there should be information as to a Tax Map (TM) and Parcel (P) number(s). If you provide those numbers, I will gladly share a map for you to pinpoint exactly where the parcel is located.

If you have any questions, this site is extremely helpful in assisting.

Good Luck