Oil revenue withheld

[Robc]

Jurisdiction

Texas

Two years ago we, as royalty owners with Pioneer Natural Resources, sold a percent of our mineral interest in Upton County to OneMap Mineral Services LLC. All Division Orders were signed by all parties and money exchanged hands. But apparently Pioneer dropped the ball and mishandled some of the paperwork, resulting in a slight overpayment each month for over two years. Upon discovering this error on their part, Pioneer stopped all revenue checks to recoup the money. With no notice from them, the checks, that are our sole income, immediately stopped. Having recently started a new business to diversify our income, we have no savings left. We're now without food and can't pay our rent, utilities, car payment, insurance or any other bills. Our 12 yr old son had to go without celebrating his birthday and there will be no Christmas. We will most likely be evicted for lack of payment. Pioneer can make an exception to taking all the revenue and instead arrange payments to take the burden of their mistake off of us. To date they are refusing to do so.
We need help asap.

 

[army judge]

Two years ago we, as royalty owners with Pioneer Natural Resources, sold a percent of our mineral interest in Upton County to OneMap Mineral Services LLC. All Division Orders were signed by all parties and money exchanged hands. But apparently Pioneer dropped the ball and mishandled some of the paperwork, resulting in a slight overpayment each month for over two years. Upon discovering this error on their part, Pioneer stopped all revenue checks to recoup the money. With no notice from them, the checks, that are our sole income, immediately stopped. Having recently started a new business to diversify our income, we have no savings left. We're now without food and can't pay our rent, utilities, car payment, insurance or any other bills. Our 12 yr old son had to go without celebrating his birthday and there will be no Christmas. We will most likely be evicted for lack of payment. Pioneer can make an exception to taking all the revenue and instead arrange payments to take the burden of their mistake off of us. To date they are refusing to do so.
We need help asap.

I suggest you HIRE yourself a lawyer.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Best of Luck, buddy.

 

[Robc]

I suggest you HIRE yourself a lawyer.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Best of Luck, buddy.

We would love to hire an attorney but we don't have the money to because they've taken our entire income (and savings was used recently to start a new business).

 

[cbg]

You cannot get representation from a message board, if that is what you are attempting

 

[adjusterjack]

How much money per month were you supposed to get per your agreement?

How much money per month did you actually get per month?

Give me dollar figures please.

 

[Robc]

How much money per month were you supposed to get per your agreement?

How much money per month did you actually get per month?

Give me dollar figures please.

We sold 25% of our interest. Our checks were less after but apparently they didn't file something correctly and didn't transfer enough. We had no idea of their error. Now they are holding all revenue until the overpayment is recouped.
I'm attempting to gain any legal information I can to help us figure out what to do next.

 

[Robc]

You cannot get representation from a message board, if that is what you are attempting

Not at all. Trying to gain whatever info we can.

 

[Zigner]

You were asked for dollar figures and responded with a meaningless percentage. 25% of $100 is $25 - and 25% of 1,000,000 is $250,000.

How much were you receiving per month in dollars?

 

[Robc]

Our checks are based on mineral interest, they vary significantly. Over the two years between the sale and the error was discovered our checks were between $7000-$9000 per month. There was approximately a $650 overpayment given every month for 2 years, which is what they're wanting to recoup in essentially two lump sums.

 

[army judge]

Our checks are based on mineral interest, they vary significantly. Over the two years between the sale and the error was discovered our checks were between $7000-$9000 per month. There was approximately a $650 overpayment given every month for 2 years, which is what they're wanting to recoup in essentially two lump sums.

If you were OVERPAID, you'll receive nothing until you've repaid ALL monies owed to the oil company.

You might try to negotiate by offering to let the company to take it out of your revenue stream.

The issue for you to explain to SOMEONE is WHY you said NOTHING about receiving too much MONEY for two years!!!

 

[Disabled Vet]

I would hope you had a lawyer check over the paperwork prior to selling your interest. That is the person you should be talking to about this issue. If you didn't have one.... well shame on you. Now your in a pickle without any help from anyone on this board. You have a contract with this company. Somewhere in that contract it will state what the terms of the contract. You need to take this contract to a lawyer. You also need to take classes on how to budget your money. Making that much money per month without having a backup fund is NUTS.....

 

[adjusterjack]

our checks were between $7000-$9000 per month.

Seriously? With that kind of money coming in for two years you couldn't save up any money for emergencies? What the heck did you spend it all on?

There was approximately a $650 overpayment given every month for 2 years

Ouch, that's about $15,600. But if they are withholding checks based on about $7000 per month it should be paid back pretty quick and your checks resume.

 

[zddoodah]

I'm not sure what sort of help you are seeking or expecting from anonymous strangers on the internet, but the propriety of the company's actions depends on the terms of the written contract(s) between you and it, which we obviously haven't read.

 

[Robc]

I don't think anyone on here read my initial post. Yes, we make do good money and yes, it's currently gone because we just started a new business ans we sunk our savings into it not knowing no paychecks would be coming in for over two months. After 7 years of getting a check every single month, it seemed a fairly safe bet.
And the reason I posted on here was because the site said I could potentially get an attorney's perspective on the issue.

 

[cbg]

Perhaps you're having trouble understanding that no one here, lawyer or otherwise, can give you their perspective on a contract they have not read.

 

[Robc]

The legal issue is not about any contract. The contract was between us and a totally separate oil company that purchased some of our interest. They aren't involved in this issue at all.
Apparently this issue is entirely too complex for an online forum.
I posted hoping someone, somewhere had run into an issue like this before and had some insights to share.

 

[Disabled Vet]

The legal issue is not about any contract. The contract was between us and a totally separate oil company that purchased some of our interest. They aren't involved in this issue at all.
Apparently this issue is entirely too complex for an online forum.
I posted hoping someone, somewhere had run into an issue like this before and had some insights to share.

How can you say this isn't a contract issue? Do they just pull these monthly figures out their butt? A contract lays out the terms of every aspect of the deal. From the amount of monthly payments, interest they purchased, how long the term of this deal. etc...etc... You just don't go into this with a handshake. Somewhere in a contract it is spelled out how monthly payments are issued. Anyway.... You're correct that this is something you need to address with a lawyer local. Again in my thoughts you need to contact the lawyer that looked over the contract before you signed it. He/She should know about any over payments/under payments etc.. Good luck

 

[Robc]

Division Order, not contract. And it's simply a splitting of decimal interest. The issue was that the division orders weren't all filed so some decimal interest wasn't transferred. No issues within any of the documents.

 

[Zigner]

Division Order...

Is that a "Division Order" in which they agree to give you money in exchange for a certain percentage of your rights?

 

[zddoodah]

I don't think anyone on here read my initial post.

I did.

And the reason I posted on here was because the site said I could potentially get an attorney's perspective on the issue.

You did "get an attorney's perspective on the issue."

Let's backtrack.

Your original post (which I read) contains no question. Rather, it contains a generic statement that you need "help." I wondered what sort of "help" you thought that folks here could provide. Perhaps the "help" you're seeking is "an attorney's perspective," which is what I gave you.

"The issue" that you summarized in your original post (which I read) is that you own oil/gas royalty rights and sold a portion of those rights. You apparently got overpaid, and now the buyer is deducting the overpayment from future monthly payments due to you for the portion of those rights that you retained. Right?

So...what's the problem? If $X is the amount by which you overpaid, you seem to be objecting that the buyer is deducting $1/2X from each of two monthly payments due to you, which means there are two months when you aren't getting anything. You apparently would prefer that the buyer spread this out over more than two months. Right?

Here's your lawyer's perspective: The legal issue is whether it is proper for the buyer to be doing what it is doing. It might be; it might not be. The answer depends on the terms of the written agreement(s) (i.e., contract(s)) between you and the buyer, and we've never read those document(s). And whether these agreements are called "contracts" or something else, they're still contracts.

Make sense?

Apparently this issue is entirely too complex for an online forum.

That may very well be the case. Many legal issues are quite complex and not well-suited for message board posts that are, by necessity, rather short.