I received a letter from a stranger making me aware of unclaimed property in OK, belonging to my late grandmother. As an heir, I filed a claim but I’m not sure where to begin obtaining some of the information required by the state. Is this worth the time? I’ve read through many of the posts here and it seems it may be but how do I know? It looks like the mineral interests are in Grady County (Section 28-06N-08W) and are pooled (no sure what that means?). The property type is listed as Royalties on all 8 accounts. Thank you in advance for any insight.
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Yes, it is worth pursuing through the State Unclaimed Funds site, not an outside party who will charge you a percentage.
You will need to know who you might have inherited from. Condolences on the death of your grandmother. Her name will be your key to finding everything. You may possibly have to find her spouse or whomever she inherited from.
You can find the wells listed at the OCC wellrecords site. Type 2806N08W into the location. Look for the 1002A form which is the completion form for each well. Also look for the 1073 form which is the change of operator form. You may have old royalties from some of the old wells sitting at the state. https://imaging.occ.ok.gov/imaging/OGWellRecords.aspx
Now go to 3306N08W because there are two more horizontal wells called the Norris Trust. You really want to pay attention to those. Now go to 2106N08W and find the third Norris Trust well. The surface locations are in the contiguous sections. These are newer wells and you will have to contact the operator to get into pay status. They are probably holding royalties and have not turned them over to the state yet.
UNIT PETROLEUM COMPANY PO BOX 702500 8200 S UNIT DRIVE TULSA, OK 74170-2500
Once you find out about the first properties, you may find that you have other properties. You can search the name for most counties in OK at www.okcountyrecords.com. They may or may not be producing, but you need to get all your properties accounted for.
You may have to file an affidavit of heirship or have wills probated in order to get the royalties. Those wells are worth it…
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Thank you!! I did see that website but didn’t think I was getting anywhere. I am a bit confused about the Norris Trust but I’ll dig into that too.
My grandmother passed in 1986 and my father in 2003 so I believe my sister and I are the only hiers and she would have likely inherited from her parents.
I really appreciate the help as this is totally Greek to me!
Here is a map that will help you visualize it better.
Wells on the wellrecords site are posted by their surface location.
However, if you are looking for production, I have found more luck searching by bottom hole location or name in the OK tax production site. https://otcportal.tax.ok.gov/gpx/gp_displayPublicPUNListSearchDownload.php
Norris 1 and 2 have a surface location in sec 33 and go north for their horizontal wellbores. Norris Trust #3-28H has a surface location in the most SE corner of section 21 and it goes south. The wells are spaced at 640 acres, so your minerals will be a part of their royalty pay out. The other wells in the section are vertical older wells and may or may not be holding funds for you. These are likely the ones that show up on the state unclaimed funds.
You may have to deal with probate or affidavits of heirship for both your grandmother and your father. Lots of comments on the forum about that subject.
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Search your grandmother’s (and other relatives’) name here:
Oklahoma Unclaimed Property Search
Mineral Interest Escrow Account Search
If the funds are in excess of $10k the unclaimed property division will require a probate. In addition, they may require additional records showing that your grandmother held an interest in the property.
Probates are usually fairly simple and painless in these types of cases.
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Yes, it is worth it – but as stated by others, be sure you only proceed through the official unclaimed property site. I posted elsewhere on this site about my years-long efforts to provide the proof needed, it was a part-time job that required many hours of research, and the team at Unclaimed and I were on first name basis by the end – the check I eventually received was well worth the frustration and efforts. My advice is to treat this project like a job with an excellent hourly rate, just keep learning and gathering information and asking for help. You are in the right place, so many helpful people here, good luck!!
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Great advice and information from M Barnes! Follow her advice-she knows what she is talking about!
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Due to the number of identity theft issues, the Oklahoma treasurer’s unclaimed treasurer’s office exercises a level of due diligence that seems fairly extreme. They generally require official death certificates and certified court orders. Also, they require a government issued photo identification and some legitimate record of a social security number (SS Card, W-2). They may also require that a deed be provided. Therefore, often a probate order by itself is insufficient for the treasurer’s office to release funds.
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Thank you everyone! I am about to dig in based on the information you’ve all provided.
I’m worried about some of the information the state will require (all totally warranted and understandable) as my sister and I are the only living family of my grandmother (the owner of interests). It all seems to be in her name so I don’t think my father knew about it? He passed almost 20 years ago and there is no known will for him or my grandmother. I do see the names of some of my grandmother’s sisters children listed as current owners.
Anyway, thank you for the help. Here I go…
I forgot to explain what “pooling” means. When an operator plans to drill a well, but cannot find all the mineral owners to lease, they will go to the Oklahoma Corporation Commission for a forced pooling. They are supposed to demonstrate that they have tried to find the owners with due diligence (sometimes debatable). Also included in the pooling respondents are those folks that refuse to lease. Then the corporation will make a decision as to the fairest bonus/royalty pairs based upon the highest offered leases in the contiguous eight sections plus the current section in the last 12 months. The order is sent out to the last know address of any missing folks/entities and they have 20 days in which to respond. There is a guide to pooling at the OCC. Let me know if you need the link.
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When I look up all the information you gave me in the first post (much appreciated), what do I do with it? I need to find “documentation showing that the listed owner owned the oil/gas property…”. Is that was all of these documents are and if so, what info do I need from them? The Norris Trust Wells are confusing to me because I cannot see how my grandmother would have rights to them. I trust that you see a connection worth looking into and I’m sure my contact person at the Treasury would know but I have no clue.
I’m not sure what information the treasury is looking for to tie my grandmother to the properties. Are these documents are what they want, is a printed copy sufficient or do I need to obtain an “official” version? Or do these documents lead me somewhere else?
I’m sorry I’m so naive here!
I see that you mentioned location is the tie to Norris Trust.
Your grandmother would have owned minerals with a certain description. You said it was 28-6N-8W, so I gave you a map of the wells that are in that section. The royalties for vertical wells are governed by their spacing units. Section 28 is 640 acres (a one mile square). If a well has a spacing for the NW4 at 160 acres, but your minerals are in the SE4, then you do not get royalties from the NW4 well. However, the horizontal wells are spaced at 640 acres, so any minerals in the section would get their percentage of the 640 acres. You are going to need a deed or a probate or a bill of sale or a divorce decree, etc. that proves that your grandmother owned the minerals.
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Yes, I missed the map with all the info there. I’ll circle back to that.
To search land records back to about 1929 use this site: https://okcountyrecords.com/search/grady#advanced-search
Enter your grandparent’s last name and search the township and range. I would skip the section number for now, as so:
You might find a deed, lease or record from a court that would establish ownership.
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If you are on a regular computer, scroll up in this thread and the map was posted April 5. Might not show up on a phone. Pictures always help me.
Awesome! Thank you for this.
Yes, once I opened on my laptop, I got a better idea of the area.
I wonder if I’m doing something wrong? I can’t pull up any records under my grandmothers name. I’ve tried her parents and her siblings to no avail.
I have a similar problem. I have a copy of my father’s mineral deed signed in 1936 but the unclaimed property division wants proof that the name of the person in this title is the same person as my father.
How do I go about proving that since my late father left no records?
Is there a way to trace his address at the time (he was “of Pittsburgh County” and my father lived in McAlester, or any other information about him from the Notary Public of the time or the Grantor listed? would they have required a copy of his driver’s license and have that on record anywhere? Thanks for your help.