Got a deed today from a lawyer in Montana who apologized for not not sending the recorded copy earlier (recorded May 9, 1984!), that shows my wife's parents owned mineral rights in Rosebud County, to wit: "50% of all mineral rights in Section 29, Township 12 North, Range 34 East, M.P.M."
Both of her parents are dead; father-in-law passed away in 2000, mother-in-law passed away in 2020 (may have been the first Covid-19 victim!)
Can anyone tell me if it's worth anything before we have a family meeting about what to do with it?
I can't tell you if it's worth much, I will advise you to get a mineral appraisal. You will need it to establish a baseline for inheritance tax purposes. I did a quick Google Earth look at it and it appears to be in an undrilled, unmined area.
To get a mineral appraisal call a shop in Billings, they can do it fairly easily. The guy I dealt with there retired, so I can't recommend him and I don't know the other people there anymore. It's been about 8 years since I did my appraisal but it went really smoothly and took us a couple of weeks to get the report.
The basic concept is that the mineral appraisal will be base the on the dollar amount the undeveloped minerals would be leased at (similar to a house real estate appraisal). If the minerals are being presently developed (oil well, gas well, bentonite, coal mine) then that's a whole nuther ball game. But, you would have been long ago informed about that, someone in the family would be getting royalties.
So, you have undeveloped minerals, worth something or maybe nothing. In Montana spacing is statutorily based on 640 acres. Any well in that section will pay your family a 50% royalty (good stuff). However, even if it's just a stripper well pumping out 10 barrels a day inheritance will be based on the total amount of oil under the ground in those 640 acres. A Check of $500 a month hardly covers the 55% due on 20million dollars of potential earnings. It's important to plan ahead and look at what's there, either presently producing or potentially in a reservoir.
Interesting township up there in the northwest corner.
Wow! That's great information. Thank you.
