Oil & Gas Royalty Glossary

Assignment: The legal instrument whereby oil and gas leases or overriding royalty interests are assigned or conveyed.

Assignor: The person conveying oil and gas leases or overriding royalty in an assignment.

Assignee:The person to whom oil and gas leases or overriding royalties are assigned.

Bonus: Cash consideration paid to a land owner or mineral owner on the execution of an oil, gas and mineral lease.

Delay Rental: Yearly payments paid during primary term to Lessor to delay drilling.

Depository Bank: A bank designated in an oil, gas and mineral lease to receive and distribute delay rentals.

Division Order: A schedule of owners and their decimal share in revenues of the well derived from the sale of oil or gas.

Grantor: A person who grants or conveys lands, minerals, etc..

Grantee: The person receiving lands, minerals, etc...

Gross Working Interest: See working interest.

Joint Operating Agreement: An agreement among joint interest owners describing how a well is to be operated.

Land Man: The person who secures leases and handles damages for oil companies who are drilling new wells or laying pipelines.

Landowner: The person who generally owns all or part of the minerals under his land and is entitled to lease the same.

Lease: Another term for oil, gas and mineral lease.

Back to Top

Lessor: The party who grants an oil, gas and mineral lease.

Lessee: The purchaser of an oil, gas and mineral lease.

Mineral Rights: The ownership of the minerals and/or hydrocarbons under a given surface, and the right to enter theron to drill, and remove them.

Net Working Interest: Share in well proceeds attributable to net working interest.

Back to Top

OIL AND GAS DEEDS

Joint Tenant Deed
Transfers undivided co-ownership to two or more people whereby, upon the death of the first owner, his share automatically transfers in equal shares to the remaining owner(s).

Life Estate Deed
Transfers to the grantee the right to receive revenues generated from oil and gas production and lease bonuses as long as the grantee is alive. Once the grantee dies, the right to receive revenues reverts back to the grantor. Commonly used when an owner wants to transfer his oil assets out of his estate but wants to continue to receive the revenues generated from the oil royalties during his lifetime.

Mineral Deed
Transfers ownership of the royalty interest including the right to execute leases and receive bonus payments.

Quit Claim Deed
Also called quitclaim deed, quickclaim deed and quick claim deed. Transfers any mineral, royalty or overriding royalty owned with no warranty of title.

Royalty Deed
Transfers ownership of the royalty interest only and not the right to execute leases and receive bonus payments.

Back to Top

ESTATE AND PROBATE TERMINOLOGY

Administrator
The person named in decedent's will to administer the estate who accepts the appointment by qualifying before the clerk. Also called executor, executrix or personal representative.

Affidavit of Heirship
A statement of facts relating to the death and heirship of the decedent which is sworn to before a notary public. Usually executed by someone who knew the decedent but is not an heir to the estate.

Ancillary Probate
The additional probate required to legally transfer title when the oil royalties are not located in the same state as the decedent. For example, the decedent's estate was probated in New York (the decedent's state of residence) but the oil royalties are located in Oklahoma.

Attorney in Fact
A document authorizing one person ("agent") to act on behalf of another person ("principal"). Also called "Power of Attorney."

Beneficiary
Person receiving assets of an estate under the terms of the will.

Certified Copy
A copy of a document that is signed and certified as a true copy by the officer to whose custody the original is entrusted.

Decedent
Deceased person.

Estate
The decedent's property at the time of his death.

Executor
The person named in decedent's will to administer the estate who accepts the appointment by qualifying before the clerk. Also called executrix, administrator or personal representative.

Executrix
A female executor. Also called administrator or personal representative.

Fiduciary
A person in a position of trust with respect to another's property. A term used to refer to the executor or administrator.

Final Decree
A court ruling detailing the distribution of assets of an estate.

Foreign Will
When the decedent owned an asset in one state but the decedent's will was probated in another state (i.e. the decedent owned oil royalties in Texas but his will was probated in Florida).

Back to Top

Heir
Person receiving assets of an estate under the terms of the will.

Heirs at Law
Persons who would inherit the decedent's estate if the decedent died intestate, or without a will.

Intestate Estate
An estate to be administered without a will.

Inventory
Detailed list of real and personal property in an estate.

Letters Testamentary
A written decree of the court whereby the executor is named.

Personal Representative
The person named in decedent's will to administer the estate who accepts the appointment by qualifying before the clerk. Also called administrator or executor.

Power of Attorney
A document authorizing one person ("agent") to act on behalf of another person ("principal"). Also called "Attorney-in-Fact."

Probate
The legal process in which a court oversees the distribution of property left in a will. The procedure whereby a will is admitted of record in the clerk's office, including the process of qualifying a person as an executor of an estate and the process of administering an estate.

Testator
One who dies leaving a will.

Testate Estate
An estate to be administered pursuant to a will.

Will
An individual's written declaration of property disposal after death.

Back to Top

Oil & Gas Royalty Buyers

Oil & Gas Royalty Management

Enter your search terms Submit search form

Buy Royalty - Cash for Royalties - Oil & Gas Drilling

Dallas Web Design - Real Estate Websites