For Attorneys, CPAs & Families
The mechanics that apply in every state: affidavits of heirship, probate title, ancillary proceedings, basis, and estate-tax reporting.
Affidavit of Heirship for Mineral Interests: When It Works and When It Does Not
When a mineral owner dies without a probated will, heirs frequently use an affidavit of heirship to establish title for leasing or sale purposes — at a fraction of the cost of probate. The affidavit is widely accepted but not unlimited; understanding when it works and when it does not is essential.
Probate, Estates, and Mineral Rights Title: A Practical Guide
Unclear title is the most common obstacle in mineral rights transactions. This guide explains how probate works for mineral interests, how to cure title defects, and what to expect in each major producing state.
Ancillary Probate of Out-of-State Mineral Interests: A Procedural Guide
Mineral interests are real property and pass under the law of the state where they are located, not the state of domicile. When the decedent owned minerals outside the home state, ancillary probate is usually the only vehicle that will clear title for the operator and the county. This guide covers triggers, vehicle selection, sequencing, and the recurring pitfalls that lengthen ancillary cases.
Step-Up in Basis on Inherited Mineral Rights: How It Works
When a mineral owner dies, their heirs generally inherit the minerals with a cost basis reset to fair market value on the date of death. For long-held minerals, the step-up is often the single largest tax benefit available — and requires documentation most families never think to gather in the moment.
Transfer-on-Death Deeds for Mineral Rights: State-by-State Overview
Transfer-on-death deeds let a mineral owner name a beneficiary who takes title automatically at death, bypassing probate entirely. Most oil-and-gas states allow them for mineral interests, but the drafting requirements vary and a single mistake can invalidate the deed.
Form 8971 / Schedule A Consistent-Basis Reporting for Mineral Estates
Since the 2015 Surface Transportation Act, an estate that files Form 706 must also issue Form 8971 to the IRS and a Schedule A to each beneficiary, locking the basis the beneficiary uses on later disposition to the value reported on the 706. For mineral estates this creates several procedural problems the general 8971 guidance does not address: partial mineral interests distributed to multiple heirs, after-discovered interests, interests still in suspense at distribution, and the interaction with depletion. This post is the workflow.
Practitioner-oriented guides to mineral probate procedure in fourteen producing states.
Texas Mineral Rights Probate: A Guide for Estate Attorneys
Texas offers several pathways to transfer mineral rights through an estate. This guide covers muniment of title, independent administration, affidavit of heirship, and practical considerations for estate attorneys handling mineral assets.
Oklahoma Mineral Rights Probate: A Guide for Estate Attorneys
Oklahoma has unique probate rules and forced pooling laws that affect mineral rights transfers. This guide covers the key probate methods and practical considerations for attorneys handling Oklahoma mineral estates.
New Mexico Mineral Rights Probate: A Guide for Estate Attorneys
New Mexico's Uniform Probate Code offers efficient options for transferring mineral rights. This guide covers informal probate, summary procedures, and the unique complications of federal and state mineral ownership.
North Dakota Mineral Rights Probate: Bakken Estates and the Dormant Mineral Act
North Dakota mineral interests — dominantly Bakken/Three Forks royalties in Williams, McKenzie, Mountrail, Dunn, and Divide counties — pass through probate under the Uniform Probate Code. Informal probate is the typical vehicle, the small-estate procedure reaches personal property only, and the North Dakota Dormant Mineral Act (NDCC § 38-18.1) creates a 20-year lapse mechanic that recurs in inherited title chains.
Colorado Mineral Rights Probate: DJ Basin and Piceance Workflow
Colorado mineral interests — dominantly DJ Basin (Niobrara/Codell) horizontal-development royalties in Weld County and Piceance Basin gas in Garfield/Mesa/Rio Blanco — pass through probate under the Colorado Probate Code. Informal probate is the typical vehicle; the small-estate affidavit reaches personal property only and does not clear mineral title. This guide covers the workflow, forced-pooling overlay, and the curative work that recurs.
Wyoming Mineral Rights Probate: Powder River, Greater Green River, and the Federal Overlay
Wyoming mineral interests — Niobrara/Turner/Parkman royalties in the Powder River Basin, gas interests across the Greater Green River Basin, and federal-leasehold overlays that recur in nearly every WY title chain — pass through probate under Title 2 of the Wyoming Statutes (which adopts the Uniform Probate Code). The defining feature of Wyoming mineral practice is the percentage of acreage held under federal lease, which routes income reporting and many curative steps through BLM rather than purely state procedure.
Kansas Mineral Rights Probate: Hugoton, the Mississippi Lime, and Determination of Descent
Kansas mineral interests — Hugoton gas field royalties in the southwest, Mississippi Lime interests along the southern tier, and shallow Central Kansas Uplift production — pass through probate under Chapter 59 of the Kansas Statutes Annotated. Kansas is a non-UPC state and offers a distinctive shortcut, the Determination of Descent under K.S.A. § 59-3201 et seq., that clears real-property title without opening a full estate.
Montana Mineral Rights Probate: Eastern Bakken, Powder River Coal Country, and the UPC
Montana mineral interests — eastern Bakken/Three Forks royalties in Richland, Roosevelt, Sheridan, and McCone counties, plus Powder River play interests in Big Horn and Rosebud — pass through probate under Title 72 of the Montana Code Annotated, which adopts the Uniform Probate Code. Federal and Crow/Northern Cheyenne tribal acreage overlays recur in the southeastern counties and route portions of the curative path through BLM and BIA rather than purely state procedure.
Pennsylvania Mineral Rights Probate: Marcellus Title and Inheritance Tax
Pennsylvania mineral interests — dominantly Marcellus Shale royalties in Bradford, Susquehanna, Tioga, Lycoming, Washington, and Greene counties — pass through probate via the county Register of Wills. PA has no statutory affidavit-of-heirship for minerals, severed-mineral title chains commonly stretch back to the 19th century, and the PA inheritance tax applies to in-state mineral DoD value at lineal- and non-lineal rates. This guide covers the workflow.
Ohio Mineral Rights Probate: Utica Shale and the Dormant Mineral Act
Ohio mineral interests — dominantly Utica Shale royalties in Belmont, Carroll, Harrison, Monroe, Guernsey, and Noble counties — pass through probate court in the county of decedent’s domicile. Ohio has no statutory affidavit-of-heirship vehicle for minerals, and the Ohio Dormant Mineral Act creates a separate lapse risk for severed-mineral interests not "used" in the prior 20 years. This guide is the workflow.
West Virginia Mineral Rights Probate: Marcellus, Utica, and the 1.3M-Interest Title Universe
West Virginia mineral interests — dominantly Marcellus and Utica royalties in the northern panhandle and north-central counties — pass through estate proceedings under Chapters 41 (wills) and 44 (decedents’ estates) of the West Virginia Code. The defining feature of WV mineral practice is the layered nineteenth-century severance history: an estimated 1.3 million distinct mineral interests, many traceable to severances recorded in the 1880s–1910s, generate disproportionate curative volume per estate.
Louisiana Mineral Rights Succession: Haynesville, the Mineral Code, and the Civilian Tradition
Louisiana mineral interests — dominantly Haynesville Shale gas in the northwestern parishes plus legacy Tuscaloosa Marine Shale and Gulf Coast production — transfer through succession under the Louisiana Civil Code and Code of Civil Procedure. The defining substantive law for the mineral interest itself is the Louisiana Mineral Code (La. R.S. 31), which differs structurally from the common-law treatment used in every other producing state.
Arkansas Mineral Rights Probate: Fayetteville Shale Legacy, the Smackover, and the Lithium Pivot
Arkansas mineral interests — dormant Fayetteville Shale royalties across the Arkoma fairway, legacy Smackover oil and brine in the south, and the contemporary lithium-extraction pivot in the Smackover — pass through probate under Title 28 of the Arkansas Code Annotated. The defining feature of Arkansas mineral practice is the gap between the play’s 2008–2016 Fayetteville heyday and its current low-activity baseline, which routinely surfaces unaddressed succession gaps in inherited interests.
Mississippi Mineral Rights Probate: TMS, the Salt Basin, and the Chancery-Court System
Mississippi mineral interests — Tuscaloosa Marine Shale royalties along the southwestern fairway, legacy Mississippi Salt Basin oil and gas across the south, and shallow conventional production scattered statewide — pass through estate proceedings under the Mississippi Code (Title 91) in the chancery courts. The defining institutional feature of Mississippi mineral practice is the chancery-court system itself: equity-rooted, county-based, and procedurally distinct from the common-law probate courts found in most other states.
Practical artifacts to hand to clients or work through directly.
Decedent Minerals Checklist
Step-by-step document checklist for moving a decedent’s mineral interests through probate.
De Minimis Mineral Interests Framework
Whether a small interest is worth administering at all: cost-to-administer worksheet, retain and sell indicators, middle paths, and the file memo.
Form 706 Mineral Valuation Checklist
What the estate-tax return needs for defensible date-of-death mineral valuations.
Appraiser Engagement Letter Template
Engagement-letter language for retaining a qualified mineral appraiser for estate work.
State Probate Lookup Tool
Per-state summary of probate procedure, affidavit acceptance, and dormancy statutes for mineral interests.
Plain-English versions written for the families themselves.
Inherited Mineral Rights: What You Need to Know
If you have inherited mineral rights, you may be unsure what they are, what they are worth, or what your options are. This guide walks you through everything heirs need to know.
Inherited Mineral Rights in Texas: An Owner's Guide
Most Texas mineral inheritances arrive with no paperwork: a parent passes, royalty checks stop or never started, and the family knows only that "there are minerals somewhere." This guide walks an heir through establishing ownership, getting paid, the tax picture, and deciding whether to keep or sell.
Inherited Mineral Rights in North Dakota: An Owner's Guide
Most North Dakota mineral heirs live somewhere else — the Bakken boom turned homestead-era minerals into valuable assets held by families two or three generations removed from the state. This guide covers how out-of-state heirs establish ownership, North Dakota's 20-year abandonment statute, getting paid, and the keep-or-sell decision.
The Ohio Dormant Mineral Act: How Heirs Keep (or Lose) Severed Mineral Rights
Ohio is one of the few producing states where inherited mineral rights can genuinely be lost to the surface owner through inaction. The Dormant Mineral Act sets out exactly how that happens — and exactly how heirs can stop it. If your family once owned minerals in eastern Ohio, the time to check is before a notice arrives, not after.