The most difficult part of appraising a mineral interest is to get the data together from the subject. Often an estate is left where the heirs are uncertain about the property, or have no organized accounting of the property. This leads to frequent interruptions in the process, delays in the report, and general uncertainty.
WHAT NOT TO SEND ME
Please be sure that what you send me is correct. The legal description of the property is either in the form of a mineral reservation, a mineral deed, or may be listed in an estate filing or will.
I am NOT an abstractor, nor a title landman. I cannot do your title search for you. If you need to get a title opinion, I will be happy to try and locate either an abstractor or a certified landman to assist you and you can deal with them direct. It is out of my area of expertise. I do not get nor ask for a commission for such referrals but I also cannot guarantee their work.
Keep in mind I do not appraise individual wells but am appraising the mineral RIGHT beneath
A LEGAL DESCRIPTION IS REQUIRED.
The description of a well is NOT a legal description. The originating interest comes from either a mineral or fee simple deed or a reservation of minerals from a deed. Identification of the well will not suffice. Sometimes a complete legal can be found on the lease but those often are not complete legal descriptions.
OWNERSHIP NAME
What name is the interest actually in? Is it a trust, an individual, heirs, etc.
DATE OF VALUE
If the interest is valued for an estate, normally the date of death or transfer is required to estimate the value. A date of value that is retrospective normally limits the appraiser to examining data as of that date, including current gas price, ownership, and production to that point.
INCOME HISTORY
Annual income is a bare minimum. We prefer monthly tally of income from each well, along with a copy of the Division Order (DO) also known as Division of Interest (DOI) and the history of income should be complete for five years if possible. A complete history back to the original start of production is useful. You can provide this as a spreadsheet or an organized monthly (or quarterly/annual) statement aka the “check stubs” you get when the company sends out a check to you. Please organize by well and month.
LEASE STATUS
If the property leased, I need a copy of the CURRENT lease. And is the lease held by production. Has there been other wells drilled and since abandoned. Leases which have expired without a well are of no interest to me unless they have the correct legal description and net mineral acres of the property. Most leases lack the exact legal description and the percent of ownership.
To comply with the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP), I will need to know the name of the subject party, the name of the client, the purpose of the appraisal, and if for anything the IRS may look at, I need to be told that so I can include the proper verbiage in the report. NOTE – The 8283 form used for gifting has only ONE section the appraiser signs. I DO NOT FILL OUT THE ENTIRE FORM.
OTHER ITEMS OF POSSIBLE USE
Offers to purchase
Prior appraisals
Oil & Gas Leases or Amendments
A three year history of your ownership (when did you acquire the interest)prior to the date of appraisal
The date of value is what you want it to be. I am able to do property back to 2006 in Arkansas and 1990 in Oklahoma usually. This is called a retrospective date and generally refers to a date of death for an individual who held the mineral rights.