FAQs

The Taurus Corporation's process to acquire your royalty/mineral interest is not complex or lengthy. With the appropriate documentation, it can be completed in as little as three to five business days. We also want to remind our current clients and client-to-be that we are always open to any special requirements that a client might have to meet their individual needs in handling the acquisition of their royalty/mineral interest.

As a general rule the process is as follows:

1. A prospective seller contacts The Taurus Corporation regarding selling their royalty/mineral interest via phone at (844) 645-2274, or by signing and returning one of our offer letters.
2. One of our Associates will then contact the seller to request copies of the seller's most recent check statements and any additional documentation that may be required. NOTE: Our Associate may determine that additional documents are required such as: A copy of the Trust document if the royalty/mineral interest is held in a trust, a copy of the document that appoints the seller as the Independent Executor for the estate of the owner of record, a copy of the Affidavit of Heirship filed in the county where the owner of record lived at the time of their death, and, or, a copy of The Letter Testamentary filed with the county where the royalty/mineral interest is located.
3. After receiving the appropriate documentation The Taurus Corporation will evaluate the royalty/mineral interest and determine its fair market value. NOTE: Many of our offer letters are based on the property value set by the county tax appraisal district and because of this our offer may not include recent events regarding the seller's mineral interest. The Taurus Corporation re-evaluates all offers by looking at current production, current well production decline, and current selling prices for crude oil and natural gas. In cases where new wells have been drilled since the last tax appraisal The Taurus Corporation will increase our offer accordingly. Likewise, if production has dropped sharply The Taurus Corporation will decrease our offer proportionately.
4. The seller will then be contacted to discuss our offer with them. Once we have come to an agreement with the seller regarding the purchase price of their royalty/mineral interest we will send the seller several documents, including:
   • An offer letter detailing the exact amount The Taurus Corporation is paying to purchase your royalty/mineral interest.
   • A Deed for you to sign in the presence of a notary. Most banks or real estate offices have a notary that will notarize a document for a small fee.
   • A Letter of Authority. This document need not be notarized. The letter of authority along with deed allows us to contact the oil producer to verify ownership and pay status.
   • A self-addressed, stamped, envelope to return the signed and notarized documents to The Taurus Corporation.
5. The seller will then sign the deeds in front of notary and send ONE COPY of the deeds along with the letter of authorization back to The Taurus Corporation in the enclosed self-addressed, stamped envelope. The client will keep the second copy of the deeds for their records.
6. Once we have received the signed and notarized deeds and the signed letter of authority we can then contact the oil producer and verify ownership and pay status. This typically takes 2 to 3 business days to hear back from the oil producer.
7. Upon receiving verification of ownership The Taurus Corporation will issue a company check for the amount agreed upon. Note: The Taurus Corporation will contact the County Tax Assessor-Collector to determine if there is any delinquent or current County or School District taxes due. If so, the amount of tax determined will be subtracted from the purchase amount.

The Taurus Corporation prides itself with the reputation of "Doing exactly what we say we will do!" There are no hidden fees and no surprises regarding the amount you will receive for your royalty/mineral interest. We keep our clients well informed through out the entire process. You may also click the following link to get started.

Request An Offer

You are not obligated to sell your interest when asking for an offer. Furthermore, receiving an offer does not mean you're committed to selling your interest either. You may also click the following link to get started.

Request An Offer

To reserve the mineral rights, the seller must have included a reservation or exception to the property deed stating that the mineral rights were not being sold with the property. Such reservation or exception will be found in your Deed of Trust and/or your Warranty Deed. The only way to be absolutely certain you own the mineral rights is to do (or have someone – like The Taurus Corporation, an oil-and-gas attorney, or petroleum landsman - do for you) some exhaustive research of courthouse records of your property. You can be sure an oil producer knows you own the rights before they give you any money for your consent to drill on your property or give you any money as a royalty payment.

A copy of the most recent check statement from the oil producer. In the case where the owner of record is deceased, a copy of the will, or if there was no will at time of death, then an Affidavit of Heirship and/or Letters Testamentary properly recorded in the county in which the property is located. You may also click the following link to get started.

NOTE: Many of our offer letters are based on the property value set by the county tax appraisal district and because of this our offer may not include recent events regarding the seller's mineral interest. The Taurus Corporation re-evaluates all offers by looking at current production, current well production decline, and current selling prices for crude oil and natural gas. In cases where new wells have been drilled since the last tax appraisal The Taurus Corporation will increase our offer accordingly. Likewise, if production has dropped sharply The Taurus Corporation will decrease our offer proportionately. Request An Offer

A copy of the Trust Agreement or Memorandum of Trust in addition to a conveyance document from the current owner of record into the Trust. These documents must be recorded in the county and state where the minerals reside.You may also click the following link to get started.

Request An Offer

The requirements for ownership transfer due to death vary by state and are dependent on whether or not the decedent had a will. Contact us by phone at (844) 645-2274 and we can advise you on the appropriate steps to take based on the requirements of the state in which the lease or mineral interest is located.

First, The Taurus Corporation respects the privacy of our clients and handles all transactions with the utmost of discretion and privacy. The purchase price we have agreed upon to acquire our clients' royalty/mineral interest is a private matter between The Taurus Corporation and that client.

Second, the mineral deeds used by The Taurus Corporation are standard within the Oil & Gas Industry. The amount that The Taurus Corporation has agreed upon to purchase a mineral/royalty interest is arrived at by placing a monetary value on future theoretical production and may not represent future actual production. This amount is not intended to be an assessment of a lease, wells, or royalty/mineral interest's actual market value. The actual property value as established by the Central Tax Appraisal District for the county in which the royalty/mineral interest is located is based on the revenues generated by the actual production from the wells associated with the royalty/mineral interest.

Lastly, Deeds in many, if not most, state do not recite the actual sales price. Instead, they simply recite "for $10.00 paid and good and valuable consideration, the receipt and sufficiency of which are hereby acknowledged." In part, the reason is because that is the form that the recorder's office expects to see and more importantly to make it clear it was not a gift. It may also be viewed as a privacy thing, where people don't want others to know directly how much they paid or received for a given property. The actual sales price is agreed upon, and paid in advance of, signing the deed. After the agreed purchase price is paid, then the deed is signed.

Divide the number of mineral acres you own within a well's producing unit by the total acres within the well's unit, and multiply this by your royalty interest as listed in your oil and gas lease.

Interest may be suspended for several reasons:

• Social Security or Tax ID number not provided
• Unsatisfied title requirements
• Pending transfer of title
• Death
• Address unknown
• Affected by litigation

The following may have happened:

1. A different company may be responsible for disbursing your revenue and may be working to set up your interest for payment.
2. The amount due to you may not be enough to distribute to you at the time and is said to be in “petty suspense”. However, you will receive a payment in the future once it has accrued to the company's minimum disbursement amount.
3. Your interest may be in “legal suspense” due to reasons such as a change of address or change in ownership in which the company is unable to disburse the revenues to you.
4. The well may not be producing oil and gas. To determine exactly what happened, call the phone number listed on the last check you received. If you cannot locate a number, then feel free to contact us or call us at (844) 645-2274.

Due to variations in volumes of oil and gas production, as well as oil and gas prices, fluctuations in your checks take place from month to month. Also, over a period of time, most wells experience a decline in oil and gas production because there is only so much oil and gas that is recoverable by the well. Therefore, as the months pass, less oil and gas is produced, which leads to a steady reduction in production as well as a decrease in the amount of your monthly check.

A deed is the document that transfers ownership of real estate. It contains the names of the old and new owners and a legal description of the property, and is signed by the person transferring the property. You can't transfer real estate without having something in writing, which is almost always a deed.

Here's a brief rundown of the most common types of deeds:

• A quitclaim deed transfers whatever ownership interest a person has in a property. It makes no guarantees about the extent of the person's interest. Quitclaim deeds are commonly used by divorcing couples; one spouse signs all his or her rights in the couple's real estate over to the other. This can be especially useful if it isn't clear how much of an interest, if any, one spouse has in property that's held in the other's name. (However, a quitclaim deed doesn't relieve the individual transferring ownership from the mortgage, if there is one.) Quitclaim deeds are also frequently used when there is a "cloud" on title; that is, when a search reveals that a previous owner or some other individual, like the heir of a previous owner, may have some claim to the property. The individual can sign a quitclaim deed to transfer any remaining interest.
• A grant deed transfers ownership and implies certain promises, like that the title hasn't already been transferred to someone else or been encumbered, except as set out in the deed.
• A warranty deed transfers ownership and explicitly promises the buyer that the transferor has good title to the property, meaning it is free of liens or claims of ownership. The transferor guarantees that he or she will compensate the buyer if that turns out to be wrong. The warranty deed may make other promises as well, to address particular problems with the transaction.

Historically at common law, an instrument needs six things to be a valid deed:

• It must indicate that the instrument itself conveys some privilege or thing to someone. This is indicated by using the word hereby or the phrase by these presents in the sentence indicating the gift.
• The grantor must have the legal ability to grant the privilege or thing.
• The person receiving the privilege or thing must have the legal capacity to receive it.
• A seal must be affixed to it. Most jurisdictions have eliminated this requirement and replaced it with the signature of the grantor. However, for conveyances of real estate, most jurisdictions require that the deed be acknowledged before a notary public or a civil law notary and some may require a witness or witnesses in addition.
• It must be delivered to and accepted by the recipient.
• There must be a witness that also signs the deed. Most jurisdictions have eliminated this requirement and replaced it with the signature of the grantor. However, for conveyances of real estate, most jurisdictions require that the deed be acknowledged before a notary public or a civil law notary.

A chain of title is the chronological order of successive legal owners of a property, often listing as well the registration particulars of the document by which title is transferred from each owner to his successor in title.

If your question was not covered in this section, please feel free to contact us by phone at (844) 645-2274. We will be more than happy to help you or direct you to someone who can answer your question.