Getting paid
A well may already be paying for your minerals. Here is how to find out.
The most common thing an heir discovers is not an offer but an operator that has been producing under the family tract for years, paying a dead relative or holding the money because it could not find anyone else. This page is the path from that discovery to a check with your name on it.
- Who pays
- The operator of the well, from its own records of who owns what. It will not pay until those records show you.
- Where the money goes meanwhile
- Into suspense at the operator, then, after a waiting period, to the State Treasurer as unclaimed property.
- What it costs
- Nothing. Claiming unclaimed property is free, and operators do not charge to release suspended royalties.
The six steps
Find out whether a well produces under the tract
Search wells by your relative’s name, the lease name on any old paper, or the county and district. A horizontal well drains a unit of many tracts, so the well that pays you may sit on a neighbor’s land. Each well page names the operator and shows what is around it.
Search unclaimed property first
Before anything else, search the State Treasurer’s unclaimed property site for your relative’s name, and the multi-state search if they ever lived elsewhere. Royalties an operator could not deliver are turned over to the state after a waiting period, and claiming them is free. Sources are listed beside this page.
Contact the operator’s owner relations desk
Every operator has one, under names like owner relations, division orders, or revenue. Give the well’s API number, your relative’s name, and the county. Ask whether the interest is in pay or in suspense, and what they need to change the name. They will tell you exactly which papers.
Send the papers that connect you
Usually a death certificate, the probated will or estate papers, or a recorded affidavit of heirship, plus your address and tax ID. If none of this has been recorded at the county yet, that is the gap to close first; the free screening tells you which document it is.
Check and sign the division order
The operator sends a division order stating your decimal share of the well. Roughly, it is your net acres divided by the unit’s acres, times the lease’s royalty fraction. If it looks wrong, ask how it was calculated before signing. Signing does not give up any right to correct it later, but it is easier to fix beforehand.
Read the first statement
Volumes, prices, deductions, taxes, and your decimal, by well and by month. The royalty check guide explains each line, and the prices page explains why the price on the statement is below the price on the news.
Why the money is held
What this site can and cannot do here
The well lookup and the map show which operators produce where, from public records, and the free screening tells you what the county records say about your family’s interest and which document would prove your connection. We cannot contact an operator for you, release suspended money, or make a claim on your behalf: operators and the Treasurer deal with the owner. If an operator asks for a title opinion or a court order, that is attorney work. Nothing here is legal advice.
Questions owners ask
How do I know which operator to call?
The well page names it. If the well changed hands, the newest record on the page shows the current operator; the older names are previous owners of the well.
The operator says the interest is in suspense for title. What now?
Ask what specifically is missing: a probate, an heirship affidavit, a deed in the chain, or a conflicting claim. Each has a different fix, and the free screening can usually name the document. An attorney may be needed for a missing deed or a dispute.
Can the operator keep money it owed my grandmother?
No. It is owed to her estate and heirs. It either sits in suspense at the operator or has gone to the state as unclaimed property. Either way it can be claimed with the right papers.
The decimal on the division order looks too small.
Ask the operator for the calculation: your net acres, the unit acres, and the royalty fraction. Small decimals are normal when a large unit is shared by many owners. If the net acres or the fraction do not match the records, say so in writing before signing.
Will you buy a suspended interest?
An interest with unclear title is one we can research, but a purchase waits until title is confirmed, like any other. The screening is the same and free either way.