Can the mineral rights be sold by a third-party w/out knowledge of thise that have inherited said mineral rights? How is an NPI different, if at all? From what I understand (understand ?- not really) the NPI, can't be sold by a third-party. This code section seems to be stating that the NPI and other mineral rights are definitely seperate from the ownership of the land, and transfer of said ownership does not affect the mineral rights owner. Thoughts?
§55-2-1a. Ownership or possession of surface of lands after severance of minerals not adverse to owner of minerals. Whenever title to any minerals in land and the rights appurtenant thereto have been, or shall hereafter be, severed from title to the surface, the continuity of the possession of such minerals and the rights appurtenant thereto shall not be deemed to have been broken by such severance; and ownership or possession of the surface after severance shall not be adverse to the interests of the owner or owners of such minerals and appurtenant rights.
I am not a lawyer, but I think it means that if the property was sold at one point (the surface land) and the mineral rights were not part of the sale of the surface land, then they are treated as separate properties. And as such they may be sold and leased independently of each other.
As for a third party selling off someone's mineral rights.... the only thing I know of is that the state will hold the properties, surface land or mineral rights, in a type of limbo for about 18 months if the taxes have not been paid. At some point (and I don't remember the timing of it), anyone may offer to pay the taxes owed and claim the property for themselves. The procedure to do this requires that they seek out the rightful current owners and notify them several times by certified mail that they have to pay their taxes or they will lose their property. I think they also have to post notifications in the local paper (which is useless to many owners, since they don't live in the area or read the local paper online). The people/companies that do this will most likely hire a lawyer to handle the seeking and notifying part. There is a time period to wait and if none of the back taxes are paid by the current owners than the state will transfer ownership to the one who will pay the taxes.
This kind of thing worries me because there are still so many owners out there who do not know they own mineral rights and are hard to find. I don't completely trust the "seekers" to do a thorough job and notify all involved. The whole thing makes me nervous!
You are correct in not trusting the "seekers" to actually do what they should do. We were named specifically in some documents stating that they had no addresses for us or our mother, our Trustee. Meanwhile, my mother was receiving letters from other individuals and companies wanting to purchase our mineral rights. However, I guess the "seekers" could not even make an attempt to contact us. Of course, they lied about trying. I'm sure they got paid for their "efforts." I know Waco purchased some of the property. Not sure who else did yet.
Sounds like a real nightmare! Have you talked to the tax assessors office yet to see if you have any rights? You may be advised by them to get a lawyer. Their number is: 304-873-1261.
Greg Watt said:
You are correct in not trusting the "seekers" to actually do what they should do. We were named specifically in some documents stating that they had no addresses for us or our mother, our Trustee. Meanwhile, my mother was receiving letters from other individuals and companies wanting to purchase our mineral rights. However, I guess the "seekers" could not even make an attempt to contact us. Of course, they lied about trying. I'm sure they got paid for their "efforts." I know Waco purchased some of the property. Not sure who else did yet.