Congratulations, you just inherited mineral rights! The positive is that it can be a welcome boost to your income. You might be thinking buying that new truck might be a good idea right now.
Or paying off a debt could help further alleviate some financial stress. But before you consider how to use the extra cash, the priority should be to review what owning mineral rights really means. And what it means to you. For instance:
- What percentage do you actually own? 50% or something smaller?
- Are you in charge of managing the mineral rights, or only receiving royalties?
- If it’s fractional ownership, how will it work moving forward?
- Are the wells currently leased and extracting oil, or is the land in an underdeveloped area?
- What are your tax responsibilities?
- You may need to find a lawyer and a CPA to help you out with your personal responsibilities.
- If you own rights in several states, like Oklahoma and Texas, that’s another detail to pay attention to: taxes.
Those are just a few of the questions to find answers for. But if you’re not aware of how the ownership of mineral rights works, you might want to do a little research to learn more. Because if you’ve been watching the popular series Landman, you may be asking yourself, ‘oooo, what have I gotten into?’ Fun fact: that is far from what we do!
As much as we love the show, it’s done the same for oil drilling as Yellowstone has done for ranching. All drama all the time! In real life, the most dramatic mineral rights owners contend with are the taxes and working with the other recipients. Our job is to assist in a drama-free sale of mineral rights. Harbor Energy is one of the top-rated companies that buy mineral rights in Oklahoma, Texas, and throughout the United State.
Don’t Allow Shared Ownership to Fracture Family Relationships
Usually, other family members are the biggest cause of drama. If you’ve inherited ‘fractional ownership,’ it means you are sharing those rights with other parties. Possibly siblings or other relatives. And they might have ideas for managing the new income stream from mineral rights, too. Maybe family discussions begin to look more like disagreements at gatherings. Or the other recipients are extended family you don’t have much in common with. Now you’re obliged to work with them on complicated paperwork!
If you prefer peaceful family dynamics, selling those inherited mineral rights in Texas or Oklahoma may be the right move. Because whoever is tasked with managing the work may also be interested in selling. Dealing with lawyers and difficult relatives might be more costly in time, money, and emotion than expected. An easy, drama-free 3-step process to sell mineral rights could make everyone happy.