I recently got the following inquiry: “My father recently passed away in Houston and left me his Texas oil and gas rights in his Will (my brother was disinherited). I read your paper ‘Daddy Died’, and I found it very helpful. But I was hoping you could answer a question for me—is Muniment of Title
Last Monday I received a call from an attorney in Finley, Ohio. The decedent (e.g. dead guy) had written a will and a living trust, while living, of course. The plan had been to convey all of his assets into the living trust (with named successor beneficiaries, such as his wife and children) so that
SPOILER ALERT: Most lawyers can draft a will. The requirements for a valid will are written in a statute and there are a lot of “forms” out there. As a matter of fact, you can draft your own will – just go to LEGALZOOM. AND NOW FOR A LITTLE GALLOWS HUMOR: If you draft your
For Those with Real Estate Holdings Earlier this week I wrote a blog on the advisability of placing real estate holdings in a trust. That led me to review the relative strengths of real estate being owned by a trust as opposed to a limited liability company. A STRAIGHT UP COMPARISON Trusts are established pursuant
There are many types of trusts: revocable and irrevocable; living trust and testamentary trusts; special needs trusts; and the list goes on and on. This blog is not meant to be an exhaustive analysis of trusts. Rather, it is intended for the individual with real estate holdings in addition to his or her personal residence
A trap exists for investors in business deals and those seeking investors in business deals. It is called the Securities and Exchange Commission. If you have ever been solicited, privately, to invest in a deal that seemed “too good to be true” or if you are in the business of offering potential investors deals that
As our clients know, our focus is always on our clients. Our offices are “ultra” private and “ultra” accessible. Additionally, we are a “paperless” office with the ability to work anywhere in the world (we actually confirmed that by working in Italy last fall). Indeed, we were made for this “Covid-19” moment. But importantly, you
In case you haven't noticed, the price of oil has tanked. As the price of WTI continues to hover under $40, things are probably going to get worse before they get better. So what happens when royalty owners, working interest owners, and overriding royalty owners receive notice that their operator has gone bankrupt and how
This is a special blog due to an experience I recently had over an oil and gas receivership lease. TEX. CIV. PRAC. & REM. CODE §64.091 et seq. provides a method whereby oil companies, who are unable to locate missing mineral estate owners and their heirs, may obtain a “receivership lease” from the missing mineral
In case you have not heard, things are bad! The world faces a pandemic, the bottom has fallen out of the stock market, and the price of oil is headed to zero. Whenever you read, “shelter in place” – assume things are not going well. One option of course is to simply “panic.” Follow all
