Selling your minerals, step by step.

The seven steps

1. You ask

   You do: start a case with the county and whatever you know. Blank answers are fine. You get: a confirmation with your case reference and the name of the person handling it.

2. Free screening

   What happens: a researcher checks the county records to see whether the interest is traceable and whether it is something we buy. You get: a short brief of what the records show, a list of anything missing, and a clear answer either way, including a no.

3. Initial indication

   What happens: if the interest fits, we work out a figure from what the records show so far. You get: an indication, labeled as one, that states the assumptions behind it and what could change after title review. It is not an offer, and nothing is signed.

4. Title review

   What happens: the chain of ownership is confirmed from deeds, wills, and estate records at the county, back to the document that created the interest. This is the step that takes the time, and it depends on how complete the county records are. You get: updates on what is outstanding, who is working on it, and whether anything found changes the figure.

5. The written offer

   You get: one document that states the interest, the price, every assumption, the conditions, who pays which costs, when the offer expires, and how and when you are paid. The fields are listed below.

6. You decide

   You do: accept, ask questions in writing, or decline, within the offer’s expiry. Take it to your attorney or put it next to another offer first. Declining ends it, with no follow-up unless you ask.

7. Signing, recording, payment

   What happens: you sign a mineral deed in front of a notary, the deed is recorded with the county clerk, and payment follows the agreement. You get: copies of the signed documents, confirmation of the recording, and confirmation of the payment.

Documents that help, and when

None of these is required to ask. Say what you have and what you do not; the screening starts from a name and a county.

• Deed book and pageThe recorded document that created or conveyed your interest. It lets the researcher start at the right page instead of searching the county index.
• Royalty statementsIf the interest produces, the last twelve months. They name the operator, the wells, your decimal, the volumes, and the deductions, and they shorten the screening more than anything else.
• Division orderThe operator’s statement of your decimal interest in each well or unit. It shows what the operator believes you own.
• The lease, or its memorandumIf the interest is leased. The royalty rate, deductions clause, and term affect the figure more than the bonus paid years ago.
• Tax ticketThe county assessor’s mineral tax ticket. A starting point for where the interest sits, not proof of ownership.
• Estate papers, if you inheritedA will, letters of administration, or an affidavit of heirship. The deed at the end has to be signed by the people the records say own the interest, so these are needed before signing, not before asking.
• Any other offer you holdUseful context, and the only way to compare two offers is on the same interest and the same terms.
• At signing: photo ID and a notaryThe mineral deed is signed in front of a notary. Tell us where payment should go, and whether more than one owner needs to sign.

What the written offer states

What can change along the way

• The fraction or acreageTitle review can show a different share than the family remembers. The offer states how any change moved the figure.
• Lease statusA lease nobody mentioned, or one that has expired, changes what is being bought and how it is valued.
• Liens or encumbrancesA mortgage, a judgment, or an unreleased lease has to be cleared or accounted for before closing.
• TimingMissing estate paperwork and slow county records are the usual delays. You are told what is outstanding and who is working on it.

How this compares with the other ways to sell

No route is wrong for every owner. Here is what each one gives you in writing, so you can pick with your eyes open.

How owners usually arrive here, and where it goes wrong

Composite situations drawn from the questions owners ask, not client cases. If one sounds like yours, the step it points to is where to start.

• The inherited fraction

  A letter names a grandmother. Four cousins, nobody knows who owns what, and one cousin wants to sign.

  Where it goes wrong. Signing anything before the share is confirmed. A buyer prices the uncertainty, the estate papers turn out to be missing, and the deed at the end cannot be signed by the people the records say own it.

  What helps. The free screening and, where it applies, the family tree, before anyone signs. Estate papers are needed before signing, not before asking.

• The shrinking check

  A royalty owner whose check dropped by half in two years, now holding an offer that looks generous next to last month’s statement.

  Where it goes wrong. Comparing the offer with old checks instead of the curve ahead. Shale wells decline steeply, and deductions decide what reaches the check, so the right comparison is to what the interest will pay from here.

  What helps. The twelve months of royalty statements, and the eight inputs behind any price, including the decline the buyer assumed.

• The letter with a deadline

  A mailer with a price, ten days to respond, and no explanation of how the number was reached.

  Where it goes wrong. Treating the deadline as real and the price as final. Letters like this often say title review comes after signing, which is where the figure quietly drops.

  What helps. Ask any buyer for the assumptions behind the figure, and compare two offers only on the same interest and terms. Our offer lists its assumptions and its expiry, and nothing else is urgent.

• The owner who wants to keep some

  A retiree who could use a lump sum now but wants the family to keep a share for later.

  Where it goes wrong. Assuming it is all or nothing. Partial sales are routine, but the fraction being sold has to be written precisely, and co-owners’ shares cannot be sold for them.

  What helps. Say so in the request. The indication addresses a partial sale, and the written offer states exactly what is included and excluded.

Three things to know about the buyer

• No broker, no commissionYou deal with the business that signs and pays. Nobody markets your interest to other companies.
• How the buyer earnsBy owning the interest it buys and receiving what it produces. Not by charging you a fee.
• Research, not an appraisalOur research is sourced and reviewed, but it comes from a buyer. It is not an independent valuation, and we never present it as one.