Where to start
Which one is you?
Most owners arrive with one of a dozen situations. Each has its own page: what you have, what to do first, what not to sign, and who else to talk to. Pick the one that sounds like yours. If none does, start a free screening and say so.
- I just inherited mineral rightsA relative died and the papers mention minerals in a West Virginia county. You know nothing about it.What you have, how it pays, and what to do this month.
- I am settling an estate that holds mineralsYou are the executor or administrator. The minerals have to be listed, valued, collected on, and passed to the heirs.The executor’s order of work, from the appraisement to the deed.
- A company sent me a unit or pooling noticeA document with a date on it about a unit, a ratification, or a cotenancy election. You do not know what signing does.The five documents this can be, and what each one changes.
- The neighbors are drilling and nobody has called mePermits all around the tract, landmen at every door but yours.The five reasons, and how to check each from this site.
- My royalty checks stoppedThey used to arrive. Now nothing, or a letter from a company you have never heard of.Why checks stop, in order of likelihood, and who to call.
- I received a letter with a priceA buyer wrote to you, or to a relative, with a figure and a deadline.What the letter means, what it is not, and three ways to answer.
- I was offered a leaseAn operator’s landman, a form lease, a bonus per acre, and a few days to decide.The lease walk-through, from the first letter to the first royalty check.
- I am leased and someone offered moreAn existing lease, and a better proposal you cannot sign while it is in force.Top leases, expired leases, uncovered depths, and negotiated exits.
- I am thinking about sellingA lump sum now instead of small checks for years, or no checks at all.The sale walk-through: screening, indication, title review, offer, closing.
- A well may already be paying for my mineralsAn operator producing under the family tract, paying a dead relative or holding the money.Division orders, suspense, and the free unclaimed property search.
- I got a tax ticket, or I am afraid I missed oneA small county bill in a relative’s name, or none at all for years.What the ticket is and what unpaid years lead to.
- I do not understand the wordsInterest, fraction, net acres, division order, held by production.Every term in plain English, with a link to the page that explains it.
Two things every path has in common
The first step is always the same: find out what the county records say your family owns, before signing, selling, leasing, or answering anyone. The free screening does that from a name and a county. And the last step is always yours: keep, lease, sell, or do nothing. Nothing on any of these pages commits you to a transaction, and everything you receive stays yours whatever you decide.