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Permalink Reply by barneyfife on September 2, 2008 at 7:43

In order to lease under the circumstances you described, I would have to develop an heirship affidavit back to the original owner. I would do this by asking questions of the current owners, digging through public records and researching geneaology sources such as Ancestry.com,etc. Then you bring the heirship information forward to the present day. Based upon the information I developed, I would then calculate the interests of the current owners and contact them for leases. Eventually before payment of royalty is made, an attorney will review the heirship and may make some curative requirments to either prove my assumptions or challenge them. As for time involved, it depends on how complex the family history is and how hard it is to find information. Sometimes people don't tell the truth in order to eliminate a family member they don't like or in an attempt to increase their interest by cutting someone else out. In the past, larger tracts that were paid large amounts were closely examined, because my name and my neck were on the line if I was wrong. In this business mistakes are not tolerated. If you can't get an heirship right, you won't be working very long.

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Permalink Reply by layla on September 4, 2008 at 8:14

Thank you both for your replies.

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