I have inherited 1/6 of the mineral rights on township 9 north, range 59 west section 02 and township 10 N range 59W section 35. I am getting offers for 500.00 per min acre and royalty -1/6,c. I have no idea what this means my other relatives have already signed and I have held out for 2 years. Contex keeps calling and telling me if I don’t sign i lose the royalties is this true? also how do i find info on this when I go to COGIS it shows no information. Thank you for any help in advance.
Jason: Bob will need to probate Will. Landman can’t do that.
William needs lawyer also.
Jason: I don’t agree. They have the original Will, which leads one to assume the estate was not probated. Most companies will require that (probate) in a Drilling Title Opinion prior to paying significant royalties.
William-
In my opinion, you dont need a lawyer. If Whiting is drilling but Context is offering to lease you, they either are going to flip the lease to Whiting (or another willing investor) or come in as working interest partners themselves. I would be happy to help you, I have over 8 years in the business and am very familiar with weld county and terms.
Bob-
An attorney that we use to probate interests in Greeley is:
Consider negotiating for curative costs up front and ask for those fees to be included in any bonus payment either through a higher lease bonus or for a specific line item for attorneys fees. The key is to negotiate for those ahead of time and before you lease or sign anything.
The information is for general information purposes only. This should not be substituted for legal advice and should not be taken as legal advice for any individual case or situation. This information is not intended to create, and receipt or reading does not constitute, an attorney-client relationship. You are encouraged to contact an attorney for legal advice concerning the information provided.
William: get a lawyer. You are under 4-5 good wells and unleased.
Bob: You also need a lawyer. At minimum will need to probate Will and maybe file some affidavits. Then can contact oil companies. Numerous wells in Section 18.
Jason: I was a landman for 35 years with a law degree. I know how it works. Bob has producing wells on his property. He is an owner in those wells now if he wants to be. The Will will need to be probated. Bob get an oil/gas lawyer.
William and Bob: read Jenna’s post and blog. Do it the right/legal way.
I have never seen a company cover necessary costs to cure title for a mineral owner.
Cody L. Balzer is good oil/gas attorney. (970) 203- 1515.
Winters firm listed below is a good firm for probating estate.
Again, I do not offer any legal advice only insight from my personal experience. However, I am a landman and have negotiated hundreds of leases and mineral acquisition/divestures and know for a fact that the oil company has “Curative Title Landmen” to cure title to satisfy in-house requirements, my mother is one and she is also a paralegal, she is contracted to do just that for several majors. I can assure you that they do assist landowners in curing title on a regular-at no expense to the landowner. She receives DDOTO -Drilling and Division Order Title Opinions that are done by the operator’s attorneys, in which there are “Curative Requirements” outlined and her job is to work with landowners in order to satisfy those requirements. Again, not legal advice on perfecting your title but rather a de facto statement on being able to lease and obtain royalties from oil and gas interests that have not been probated or probated in the county in which the interest is held.
Not all companies or their curative landmen are equal. Some will do more for the owner than others. Can depend on the size of size of the interest as well. Bottom line is that if you aren’t educated enough to look at things yourself, don’t trust the company to do YOUR legal work. If you find a good lawyer/mineral manager to take your case, that person will most likely push the company to do all the leg work they can, but will double check everything for you.
Adam: no way operators will pay royalties without curative being done. You are correct in that operating companies have lawyers do DTOS. They will list on a owner by owner basis what if any curative is required……but they will not pay royalties until curative requirements are satisfied. I use to do DTOS.
Jason: Of course landmen will lease this. It’s a hot area and they are already under producing wells. Contex is a broker for Whiting and/or Noble and probably should have had this tightened up years ago. I read your posts. Both William and Bob can end up as working interest owners in these wells if they want to.
I can only share my experience. Noble drilled a well on our right before they even knew who owned it. The right is shared between numerous family members, some who did not even know each other, but that did not prevent the drilling. My family had some issues due to lack of a will and others had other issues, but we all needed an attorney to get things cleared up. The oil Co wants to be sure that they pay the right people. THAT is their concern. We got an attorney to sort it all out and while it is expensive, attorney’s always are, he did a great job, with minimal fuss on our part. He knew what he was doing and worked it through, step by step. His contact info:
Eugene Burk
6551 S Revere Parkway # 220
Centennial, CO 80111-6411
(303) 793-3133
Also, whatever funds may be due to you from oil on your right will be paid to you retroactively.
Oh, and btw…we leased that land to Noble prior to all the mess being straightened out. And we were paid for the lease, but they would not pay royalties until it was legal.
There’s been a few posts on affidavits and probating a Will over the last few days - you might check this blog out to be sure you’re doing the right thing on transferring title - Mineral Title Curative in Colorado. Also you may want to check the orders on the wells through COGCC - click under the “Orders” section on the well to see what’s been going on too.
The information is for general information purposes only. This should not be substituted for legal advice and should not be taken as legal advice for any individual case or situation. This information is not intended to create, and receipt or reading does not constitute, an attorney-client relationship. You are encouraged to contact an attorney for legal advice concerning the information provided.
I agree with the statement by Jason “Just to get a valid lease the OG company will verify mineral ownership on there dime not yours.” Most of the time, in order to collect a bonus payment on a lease, the OG company will be satisfied with an affidavit which they will generally help you draft and then when it comes time for royalty distribution, they will cover the necessary costs to ensure marketable title. Let them take care of the bill for probate, if at all possible 
Steve-
I understand that they will not pay royalties before the curative is done. That is why they have curative landmen to meet the particular companies requirements or assist the landowners the best they can through the process. Several operators will take an affidavit of heirship or letters of intestacy in order to pay royalties but others may require the landowner to actually pay to have a probate filed on their own through an attorney.
William: Please get yourself a good attorney. Contact Jenna (see blog below) or google oil/gas attorney in Colorado. You may be under 4-5 good horizontal wells. Do you want to own 1/6th of 4-5 good wells or 1/36th (1/6th of 1/6th). A no brainer.
Do not take $500 and 1/6th.
what is a fair signing bonus and royalty for a well thats producing oil and natural gas on a lease? as of aug 2013 54,000 barrels of oil and 73,000 mcf of gas has been produced. and is 5 years normal? i have been offered 500 per net mineral acre and 1/6 royalty. any help would be appreciated. or is it better to sign on with the well expenses.
I would strongly suggest choosing to go in as a non-consent WI partner if you already have production and are looking at the potential production that Steve mentioned.
If you do want some money up front, I would look at the Weld County owned leases that have been auctioned off in your area recently. You can locate them on the Weld County website.