One of my Aunt's used one of her small mineral interests as collateral for lawyer's fees, trying to keep her Grandson out of jail. We'll he's in jail (where he should be), and up until recently, my Aunt was under the impression that when she paid off the lawyer's fees, her minerals as collateral would be returned. Wrong. I own an undivided interest in the same tract, and was checking for any activity in the area, at the courthouse, and saw where she had not used them as collateral, but had sold them. The lawyer (who is prominent in the area) is in Carthage, Tx and had my Aunt sign a mineral deed. Ooops. He did, wisely, put in a life estate for my Aunt. She's been on death's doorstep for a few years, and one of her sons actually forged a deed to the exact same property. I showed my Aunt that deed, and she had to file suit to regain her title... If she had died, before the tract was drilled, the son would've had clear title, since no one would be able to dispute the signature. After seeing the mineral deed, I tried to explain that she wouldn't be able to pass on the mineral estate once she died.

Normally, I'd have told her she made a mistake, and it might cost her heirs a couple thousand bucks, and just let it go. However, our tract has been leased, and the company has two permits with the TX RRC and a pad already constructed. What 'was' a small interest my Aunt owned, is now 50% of the entire unit, which will be real money, when the well is drilled.

I'm thinking her only recourse is to obtain legal counsel and go from there. The lawyer who wrote the mineral deed will not see her (he's since become a judge) and his office won't take her calls.