Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Steve on November 24, 2009 at 7:36am

Barb - Under Pennsylvania law a reference in a deed to "mineral rights" creates a rebuttable presumption that the same DOES NOT include the rights to oil and gas. Sometimes a grantor would reserve only the "mineral rights" in which case the grantee is presumed to have acquired the rights to oil and gas reserves as part of the real estate transaction.

Permalink Reply by Dee on November 24, 2009 at 11:41am

Each state handles this a little differently. In some states 'mineral rights' includes oil and gas and in others it does not. In Ohio a company that I own has 441 acres of 'mineral rights' that include the oil and gas, plus coal, clay, etc. There are 700+ acres of water rights that has a description that is impossible to figure out where they are. There are another 1100 acres of coal and clay mineral rights that have some very detailed 'rights' to the surface, being able to purchase surface acreage for mining and other provisions. My point is that you will not really know what 'rights' someone else owns under your property unless you research the deed and have an attorney give you a legal opinion. Back in the 80s I did the real estate searches for a coal company that was putting in a large deep mine in SE Ohio. During this search I had to go back in the deeds to the very early 1800s to find all of the reservations and then come forward to find out who owned the coal. It was quite the learning experience. The folks at your local courthouse should be able to point to the book with your deed and if they do the record keeping like they do in Ohio you should be able to trace back each documents reference document and create and follow the chain backwards. Coming forward from the root document can be interesting sometimes but you should have little problem. One thing to watch out for is your county boundaries. The county in Ohio that the mine was to be put into had a strip of land attached to it from a neighboring county, which I was not aware of; and some of the documents that I needed to complete the search were in that neighboring counties files.

Permalink Reply by Barb Parknavy on November 25, 2009 at 3:14pm

Wow..thanks for the feedback--its seems I have a lot more to learn. In discussing this with a neighbor, several people have had the same issue and had to prove out that they had the rights. All of these properties were part of the same "subdivision", which was purchased by the same developer and then sold as individual lots, so you would think that the question would only have to be answered once, but it seems that each individual lot has to make its own case.

Permalink Reply by Barb Parknavy on April 29, 2010 at 6:28am

We sent for copies of lease from the courthouse and received them. All of the deeds refer back to one from the 1800's, which we got a copy of...but it is handwritten and almost impossible to read! My mother also just got a request for a contract for seismic testing on the property. I thought all the testing in the area had been done a long time ago, so I suspect that the reason they are interested now is that they are trying to locate the optimum site for a well-head. The attorney we have for the estate, sadly, doesn't seem interested in pursuing this or just doesn't want to admit he doesn't have the expertise. I guess my main question is can anyone give me a solid referral for a good gas & oil attorney and can anyone give me an update on the area?

Permalink Reply by N Bohl on May 4, 2010 at 12:58am

We went to a lawyer twice for consultation and were very, very happy. E-mail me if you want and I will tell you what our experience was. What I liked about this lawyer was that he has a lot of oil and gas experience and charged per hour without any strings attached and it was totally reasonable. I have absolutely no interest in promoting anyone or any company by the way. I would warn you though the last time we met him it took about 4 weeks to get a slot to meet with him at his office. You also may have to drive 1.5 hours or so depending on where you live but it's worth the drive. Quite frankly I have not been too impressed by the "experts" I have seen and heard but there are a couple that are on the ball and seem ethical.

Permalink Reply by Bridget E Christian on September 13, 2010 at 10:47am

Thanks so much for your input....I live in Lycoming County..and am trying to educate myself....Any info would be valuable...and names of reputable law firms. thanks again. Betty