Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by 0ym9x5ag7ury2 on December 8, 2014 at 2:26pm

Sherri,

      If the county your land is in has electronic records in the court house similar to Carroll, & Columbiana counties in Ohio, or Wood County in WV for example, you could go on line and look at the deed.

Take a look at your Fathers will which is also in the records dept to see if you are part owner of his estate.

Permalink Reply by Finnbear on December 8, 2014 at 5:59am

You stated "These people are family friends...". That is where your thinking is just plain wrong. Rest assured, anyone who would do that to your family is NOT a friend. Greed will bring people's true colors out nearly every time.

Permalink Reply by 0ym9x5ag7ury2 on December 8, 2014 at 2:37pm

Finnbear,

     Some examples of what you are saying, that I have seen through the years:

My Wife's Grandparents farm was purchased for a song by some good church going folks. It appears they were looking for property and left the church after getting a sweet deal.

My ex brother in law went to church in order to sell insurance. At times he used the phone book to select people to buy his insurance then canceled the policies before the first payment was due in order to win the salesman of the year award.

There are BAD EGGS in every setting including the church, so it's wise to know what you have, it's value and make sure you aren't giving a huge discount to someone who will eventually show their True Colors at your expense.

Permalink Reply by 0ym9x5ag7ury2 on December 8, 2014 at 2:59pm

Sherri,

     After re-reading your post, I see that your minerals still belong to all the heirs, not the pastor.

My Dad's side of the family owned a portion of 60 acres of mineral rights in WV. When they went to the sheriffs sale due to the death of a cousin who had been paying the taxes, the minerals belonged to 32 different people. The Assessor Office in Charleston sent out 32 certified letters including one to me, for someone to pay the taxes plus a $1000 admin fee. I called the State Assessors Office and asked what happens if I pay the tax? They told me all 32 heirs still own their portion, you just paid the tax for them.

The point being no one person had control of the mineral rights or the authority to give them away. You are in the same position.

One other point, I don't believe the attorney you mentioned or pastor were Notaries. No binding document dealing with Deeds and minerals are valid without the Notary present to witness the signature of the owner. If a Notary signed it after the fact, they broke the law.

 Statements I didn't consider from your post until now:

"my family and some other heirs are the owners of 137 Acres"

"They belonged to my Great Great Grandparents originally"

"It belonged to my Dads family".

Permalink Reply by Nancy Mosley on December 8, 2014 at 3:43pm

Ron, she also said her Dad did not have a will. Then the WV laws of intestate succession rule, since the real property (mineral rights) are in WV. The Dad's rights would have gone to his heirs, and it looks to me like that was the Mother.

Whether the deed from her was valid is a different question. You rightly point out things to check.

The other heirs, her father's relatives, would not be affected.

Permalink Reply by Sherri McDonald on December 9, 2014 at 2:10am

All of these post are so helpful, Thank you Ron, I am headed in the right direction. I have requested a copy of the original deed and the transfer deed as well. I should get them by the end of the week. I spoke with a very nice lady at the court house who told me that she remembered the transfer coming through and couldn't believe it. She said she looked up the ministry just to see if it was legitimate herself. I understand that the other heirs wont be affected but what I am worried about is our immediate family. I cant understand why she would have got rid of something so valuable. I did ask the lady at the court house if she thought it would be worth my time and money to get it reversed and she assured me I would not be sorry. So with that in mind, I am going to make some people mad along the way but I cannot sit back and allow this to happen. I have never in my 45 years had something bother me so bad. Im just hoping that when it is all said and done that my mother will understand why I did this. If she wants to give them the money from the lease I am ok with that but I have a real problem with her giving away the mineral rights. Because of what I do at work I would want to be present when a lease is signed with an attorney to make sure that we know what the company is taking from the property. From what I understand if these things aren't done correctly the Oil and Gas company can come in and deplete the property of ALL minerals and mess it up for future generations. If I am ignorant to this fact someone lease correct me, I am only repeating what I have been told by the people I work with. Again, Thank you all so much for the information.

Permalink Reply by Nancy Mosley on December 9, 2014 at 2:56am

Yes getting the lease right is very important. There is much good advice on this and other forums about leasing terms. Meanwhile best luck to you on the deed situation.

Permalink Reply by 0ym9x5ag7ury2 on December 9, 2014 at 12:40pm

Sherri,

       What is bothering you is called THEFT, I know the feeling. Most of us will have to deal with this as the royalties for our wells turn out to be Rationed by our producers rather than being paid per our leases.

I have the evidence that Chesapeake Energy is selling our well products to Chesapeake Energy Marketing Inc (CEMI). Are they giving themselves a SWEET DEAL? You know they are.

We should be receiving royalties off of the sale that CEMI conducts to make a huge profit rather than the first sale which is a BOGUS sale and not at Arms Length as our leases call for. CHK has done this across the country, its time they are introduced to the laws of Ohio and the US Dept Of Justice.

Permalink Reply by JT on December 9, 2014 at 12:00pm

Check out the following link:  

http://wvats.cedwvu.org/farm-and-garden/personal-planning/elder-abu...

Seems like this would fall under the following:

Typical examples of financial abuse are:

• Taking money or property
• Getting an older adult to sign a legal document that is not in their best interest to sign

There are a few phone numbers you can call.  Maybe they will investigate.

Permalink Reply by 0ym9x5ag7ury2 on December 9, 2014 at 12:31pm

JT,

    Good post. This case would fall into Elder Abuse area as the website shows.

I would use the phone number provided and take that route along with the other possible resolutions. The people who run the site have probably seen a lot of this activity and are possibly familiar with the Perps who did this.

Permalink Reply by cj wyalusing on December 9, 2014 at 2:59pm

I wish they had a site in pa like that one jt?

Permalink Reply by JT on December 9, 2014 at 3:18pm

Check out this website:

http://www.elder-abuseca.com/stateResources/pennsylvania.html

this link deals specifically with elder financial abuse

http://www.elder-abuseca.com/financial-abuse.html

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