Half Mineral Rights Not Mine


try to make this short.signed a lease. 18 acres in bradford co. pa, 3 years ago.been offered buy outs etc.
all documents, offers etc. state 18 acres. now there is a well and i am in the unit. all acres are in the unit.
but only have rites for 9 ? called chk they said someone has half your rites.went to the court house and found
that a lady in 1953 who was 85 years old sold the land and kept half the rites.she died in 1957. how do i get
my rites back?land was sold 3 times before i bought it in 1991. there is nothing about mineral rites in any deed except 1953. thanks for any help  p.s. for people who want to know i have been offered 5000 per acre
for my rites.

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Permalink Reply by Oliver Perry on January 15, 2013 at 7:41pm

The other half of the rights likely belong to the heirs of the lady who died in 1957. They might not even realize they own them unless Chesapeake researches who they are, and contacts them. The deed from 1953 takes precedent over any deed since then. The reservation doesn't need to be repeated in subsequent deeds. You might be able to find the heirs yourself and offer to buy the rights from them, but you can't get something back that was never your's to begin with. It is also likely there are multiple owners of the other half of the rights now due to inheritances.

Permalink Reply by mike matje on January 16, 2013 at 7:43pm

then they should have given me abonus for 9 acres intead of 18.and for 9 acres i would not have signed,

Permalink Reply by p umpjack on January 15, 2013 at 10:29pm

find a well versed o-g attorney and get a quite title will not be cheap but you can get your mineral rights

Permalink Reply by mike matje on January 16, 2013 at 7:48pm

yea thats where i am at now but is it worth it? considering taking the 5000 per acre buy out 90k

Permalink Reply by Oliver Perry on January 17, 2013 at 8:29am

Mike,

If you take the buyout, it would only be 45k. You only have 9 acres of mineral rights. I don't know how much your royalty check is on 9 acres, but it might be more lucrative to receive the royalties over 20 years or so, than accept a buyout.

I don't think it would be worth it to pursue the other half of the mineral rights. You could spend many thousands of dollars and end up unsuccessful in the end. It would be very risky. Lisa's posts are the ones to pay most attention to, she is apparently an attorney dealing in these types of oil & gas issues. Good luck to you.

Permalink Reply by Barbara on January 28, 2013 at 3:48pm

Are you saying you are being offered 5k per acre without the mineral rights?  We are considering selling so this would be helpful to know, thank you!

 

Permalink Reply by Barbara on January 28, 2013 at 3:50pm

1957 is not that far back for researching, I think it would be worth looking into.  You could start the process yourself and then get legal advice depending on what you locate, good luck!

Permalink Reply by mike matje on January 28, 2013 at 7:30pm

looked into it courthouse helped some but we only got so far.not going to pursue it any more . good luck whoever finds the owners and buys their rights. maybe you could ask them to pay the back taxes on the land . since 1967 thats how long its been in my family. p.s. let me know which half is mine

Permalink Reply by mike matje on January 28, 2013 at 7:16pm

yes thats what i was offered

0i7okn54zwbdoPermalink Reply by 0i7okn54zwbdo on January 16, 2013 at 9:12am

If your land is already in a unit then it's pretty likely that CHK chased down the heirs and leased them already.  How else are they drilling a well on unleased land?

Permalink Reply by Golddigger on January 16, 2013 at 9:39am

They can still remove the gas from under the land even if they can't find the other 50% OGM owner. The money will be held in escrow at state minimum royalty until the other owner is located. If not, it will eventually go to the state. Also when it comes to obtaining quiet title on OGM rights, it doesn't work the same way as it use to for acquiring unclaimed land. You just can't put an add in the paper anymore. Your attorney has to make every effort to track down the heirs of the estate, before a court decides to hand them over to you. Generally there will always be an heir coming out of the woodwork someplace. It is very costly and normally doesn't pan out. Once an heir finds out they own those gas rights you really don't think they are just going to give them up for little or nothing. Greed can do amazing things to a person's generosity.

0i7okn54zwbdoPermalink Reply by 0i7okn54zwbdo on January 16, 2013 at 10:59am

I'm in Ohio so the procedure is a little different here.  As far as drilling and escrowing the money I'm not sure you're correct.  You're saying that someone can just randomly drill without a lease and pay me the minimum without my consent?  I get no opportunity to negotiate the value of my rights?  That sounds like a lawsuit based on mineral trespass to me.

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