Texas. A landman is trying to contact the owners, including me, of a tract in order to drill. 1) If only a MINORITY of owners sign, will drilling start and ONLY they get royalties? 2) If a MAJORITY of owners sign, will drilling start and ONLY they get royalties? 3) If drilling starts, what happens to the royalties that would have been paid to those who didn’t sign? 4) If an owner can’t be contacted, what happens to their portion? 5) If an owner is deceased, and the landman doesn’t respond to requests to change the lease offer to the heirs (or respond at all), what should be done by the heirs? For this case, assume the deceased owner’s rights went to their child; the child later died; and rights are now owned by a grandchild. (Yes, I searched online and here and couldn’t figure out a clear answer.)
Suggest you click on the magnifying glass search icon next to the blue “+ New Topic” rectangle at the top of the page. Enter “Judon Fambrough” and open on the return which has “Wheeler county” in the title. Read the paper. Whether the minerals are in a divided or undivided section is only one of the important details you have not provided. I think this may be contributing to why your post has not had a number of replies.
If you own a partial mineral interest in a tract with multiple owners and any one owner signs a lease, then the oil company can drill there. Leased mineral owners are paid royalties. Unleased mineral owners receive all the net revenues for their net mineral ownership, which 100% of sales less drilling, operating and other costs. There are many discussions on this site and more extensive articles on the web explaining how Texas unleased mineral owners are treated. As to the heirs, they need to have vested title in the minerals, through probated wills or affidavits or deeds or other legal documents recorded in deed records in the county where the minerals are located. An attorney can assist you in this process.
Thanks for the short, clear explanation. Heirs’ documents done by an attorney do exist. That leaves my question #5 unanswered: If an owner is deceased, and the landman doesn’t respond to requests to change the lease offer to the heirs (or respond at all), what should be done by the heirs? I assume the answer is to have the attorney start legal remedies.
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