Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by John H on May 25, 2011 at 12:42pm

I have a solution to your problem. Have him prepare two copies of the instrument to be signed, notarized and recorded.  Be sure they are identical. One is for you.  One is to be recorded.  Sign them at the same time in front of the same notary and with subscribing witnesses.  If the companion document is recorded in different form than what you signed, it is fraudulent and could be easily judged as invalid in a court of law.  A signed, notarized document cannot be altered after the fact to suit the needs of one particular party.  I know a subscribing witness is not necessary in Ohio but, you can never have too much information or too many facts on your side.  Make sure they are an impartial observer, not a friend of relative who could be portrayed as someone biased as to your side.  If you sign at a bank, a fellow employee of the notary would be sufficient.

Further, a really good abstractor could find this missing interest, if it in fact exists.  It must be a part of your title chain somewhere.  I know I could.

Permalink Reply by J. Rossi on May 25, 2011 at 1:39pm

legislature enacted the Dormant Oil and Gas Act, The purpose of the Act is to permit the development of oil and gas reserves when all owners of oil or gas interests cannot be located or identified. The Act provides for the creation of a trust for the benefit of certain owners of interests in oil and gas, authorizes a trustee to enter into leases of interests in oil and gas under terms and conditions authorized by the court of common pleas, provides for the administration of the trust and for payment of moneys to the trustee, and imposes penalties for nonpayment., the purpose of the Act is “to facilitate the development of subsurface properties by reducing the problems caused by fragmented and unknown or unlocatable ownership of oil and gas interests and to protect the interests of unknown or unlocatable owners of oil and gas. It is not the purpose of this act to vest the surface owner with title to oil and gas interests that have been severed from the surface estate.” Although § 701.4 of the Act creates a trust mechanism to allow for royalties to be paid to a trustee, the Act limits standing to those who already have an interest in fee, by lease, as royalty, or by “ownership of correlative rights in an oil and gas reservoir.”

Permalink Reply by Finnbear on May 28, 2011 at 10:46pm

The Pennsylvania Dormant Oil and Gas Act would not apply here. The original poster here is in Tuscarawas County Ohio. Ohio has a Dormant Minerals Act under ORC 5301.51, 5301.52, and 5301.56which do apply in this situation. The Act you cite above would also not apply because the mineral interest owner has been located and identified. The mineral interest owner is the one who posted the original question (Jmaes Vaughan).

Permalink Reply by Willi West on July 4, 2011 at 7:30pm

I realize this question is apparently moot because the deadline for action has passed but someone else might find this of interest.  As best I can see, in the original query from Mr Vaughan, he does not know if the O&G rights are in Ohio--they could be in any state.  Therefore, all discussion of Ohio law, and suggestions to check local newspapers and court records, might miss the issue entirely.

Here's a related story.  I searched a property in Pennsylvania, currently over 100 acres.  The O&G rights were excepted and reserved when the surface was sold in 1928.  The grantor then moved out of Pennsylvania, taking up residence in a state far away.  He never sold the O&G, and died owning them, in 1953.  By his will, everything was left to a friend and neighbor, in this state far away.  The O&G  was not specifically mentioned in the will but would have been included.  It appears that the O&G rights were forgotten by then;  this is not unusual--remember that the shallow oil fields in Pennsylvania were spotty and often quickly exhausted so that such claims were often regarded as worthless.

The friend and neighbor died 1976 leaving everything to his children, who thereby became owners of the O&G on over 100 acres of Pennsylvania, and they likely never had a clue that they owned this.  As far as I know, they, or their heirs, are still the owners, and still don't know it.  I did this work for a prospective buyer of the property, so no-one ever followed up on this.  It will probably stay like this until an energetic landman pursues it further.  Note that, even if the out-of-state heirs had a clue that they owned something, it would be very difficult for them to figure this out.

Permalink Reply by Thomas Hall on August 11, 2011 at 8:14pm

Finnbear- you are a great asset to this board. Great thread to read through.

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