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Permalink Reply by gene on February 11, 2010 at 15:42

what section are you located in?

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Permalink Reply by djimison on February 11, 2010 at 18:13

Section 20 in Keithville LA

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Permalink Reply by Mac Davis on February 11, 2010 at 18:57

We need "township/range/section." There's more than one section 20.

Or a nearby road intersection, etc.

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Permalink Reply by djimison on February 12, 2010 at 16:06

Township 15 north, range 15 west

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Permalink Reply by Henry on February 12, 2010 at 0:38

Djimison,
First off, do not sign anything that you don't understand. Having said that, can you also tell us the following:
Your section, township, and range.
Are you leased? If so, to whom?
Can you scan in and upload a copy of the letter? (You may blank out any personal info.)

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Permalink Reply by djimison on February 12, 2010 at 16:15

My grandmother has controlling interest and she received 200 dollars an acre originally for 19.5 acres (3 yrs) and 1/16 of a % royalty...by the time I got wind of the situation she had received and cashed the check for a little more than 4,000.00 dollars.. I am in the DC area.

As an update the guy directly across the street from our property has 2 acres and he received 16,000 per acre with 18% royalty

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Permalink Reply by Mac Davis on February 12, 2010 at 17:19

I suspect that's 1/16 royalty, i.e. 6.25%.

Yes, I had a similar situation where Dad signed off on a lease without telling anyone else.

Here's the well info.

http://sonlite.dnr.state.la.us/sundown/cart_prod/cart_con_wellinfo2...

Does anything in the letter say "Division Order?"

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Permalink Reply by djimison on February 12, 2010 at 17:51

Not that I can tell...and the original lease is about to expire so we are starting to get letters to resign... Thank you for the well info...what is the difference if it a full percent?...because I thought it was 1/16 of 1% is that practical?

She also signed for an easement on the property and got about 200 a rod for that in 2008

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Permalink Reply by Mac Davis on February 12, 2010 at 19:01

Your section has been drilled. Your lease should now be "held by production." Your lease will not expire now, as long as they keep producing gas. Then there would be 10 years left for them to drill again before rights would revert to the property owners.

Correct, experts?

Interesting that you're getting letters to sign a new lease. Be real careful that you aren't signing some sort of scam that looks like a lease ends up with you signing your mineral interests away. I wonder if it's a scam, or if someone just hasn't done their homework and is offering a lease that wouldn't be valid anyway.

1/16 of 1% is theoretically possible, but I'd be really surprised if that was true. They tend to use fractions like 1/8, 1/5, 1/4, or 1/16. 1/16 is a royal ripoff, but it's entirely likely they'd try to trick an elderly person that way. 1/16 of 1% is so bad, even the snakes in the O&G industry probably wouldn't go that far.

Do you have a copy of the lease? It should be on file at the parish courthouse.

Watch Granny REAL carefully. There are a lot of scam artists that will send her documents that look like royalty checks but are in fact a scam with deceptive terms that end up buying out all your mineral rights and future royalty payments for cents on the dollar. There are a lot of other deceptive offers you are likely to get.

You've got 20 acres. Get granny a good oil and gas attorney to review any documents and offers before she signs anything. The cost of an attorney consultation will be a pittance compared to the amount of money the lease should produce.

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Permalink Reply by NA on February 13, 2010 at 4:25

Prescription applies to mineral and royalty interest not continuing operations of a lease. 1/16 royalty is a complete rip off for a OGML. I will go out on a limb and say your grandmother signed a royalty deed for 1/16 of her interest. Might I ask if this lease to a company named Cobra or Pinnacle?

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Permalink Reply by djimison on February 13, 2010 at 4:44

Im not sure, but I will be in Shreveport next week to try and get a handle on the situation...My grandmother has finally agreed to let me take over the situation ,collect all of the paperwork and get to the bottom of who actually holds the current lease. If it is CHK (which I think it may be) they have a lot of explaining to do.

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Permalink Reply by Mac Davis on February 13, 2010 at 8:14

This may be entirely valid paperwork properly related to properly issuing the checks, but watch out for scams.

Chesapeake is the operator for that unit. Your payments will come from the holder of the lease. The original leasing company may have sold out to the operator, or they may still hold the lease.

I doubt the operator will be at all concerned about "a lot of explaining to do." They may be willing to explain things to you, but they aren't really under a lot of obligation to explain things other than sending you the legally required notices.

You and your family may very well have been shafted in terms of the lease. You may have been shafted by an independent leasing company who later sold to the operator. You may have been shafted by an "independent" leasing company that was working in collusion with the operator. Legally it doesn't matter as long as they followed the rules. The operator won't care or have any legal concerns about the shafting you got.

Get certified copies of all the relevant documents on file at the courthouse.

You can do this by yourself. The people in the Clerk of Court are reasonably helpful, but there's a limit to the degree to which they will do the work for you. I don't know how hard or expensive it is to get someone who knows the ropes to do it for you.

One of the landmen here may comment on having someone dig up the records for you.

Gather preliminary information. Go to the Caddo Parish Assessor's web page and print off the listing for the property to get a good legal description.

While you're gathering documents, get certified copies of everything you can. From the Clerk of Court, I can immediately think of deeds, plats, CC&R (Codes, Covenants, and Restrictions), judgments of possession (probation of a will), and of course, any mineral leases on file at the courthouse.

Some records are on their computer system. Older records are in books that you have to go look up. Then you write down the right document numbers on a form and take them to another room and order prints. There are a couple of sets of numbers on each documents. Some help you find the documents in the books, and another number is the one that lets you order a copy. There is more than one numbing system for the documents. There are some minimal fees. Many of the records will reference other record numbers relevant to the property.

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