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Permalink Reply by Hale Yayuh on May 9, 2018 at 12:16

My opinion is that you should get legal counsel from a highly experienced *Texas* oil and gas attorney. Texas minerals have associated risk much deadlier than Louisiana. Trying to get legal advice on an internet forum is dicey, indeed. Just go ahead and do it and get it over with. Shouldn't cost much relative to what you could receive.

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Permalink Reply by shelby on May 9, 2018 at 17:12

Thanks for your input Hale; I've first  need to retrieve a copy of the lease from Panola County to determine the size of my holdings there. Also, back in the 40s royalty terms were a lot different than currently, and I need to make sure my interests warrant the expense of legal advice.

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Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on May 10, 2018 at 3:47

shelby, get thee to an experienced O&G attorney.  Yes, you want one with Texas energy law experience but it doesn't matter their physical location as you can do this on the phone or by email.  Are you sure that old lease is still in force?  Have you been receiving royalty payments from that old lease?  Do you have any idea of how many net mineral acres you own? 

Getting a copy of that old lease will get you a legal description that may or may not provide the tract acreage and will not tell you how much of the whole you own.  A lease will contain only a tract description, not the lessor's interest.  For example a tract may be called 80 acres, more or less, but the original lessor may have only owned a one sixteenth share or 5 net mineral acres.  How many times has the ownership in that 40's interest been divided through heirship in the intervening years?

If you are looking for an interim step to spending money on an attorney, I suggest that you contact Julie (jffree1) here on GHS and have her help you get a copy of the lease and perform an initial title review to see how many mineral acres you own.  That will help you in determining what is at stake and what it may be worth cost wise for you to pursue it.  Good luck.

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