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  1. #1
    Join Date
    May 2008
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    14

    Default 60 Year Old Lifetime Gas Lease

    My question involves business law in the state of: Kentucky.

    Regarding a gas lease contact entered into over 60+ years ago: The gas lease was a LIFETIME lease for $500 per year. The original lessor signed with an "X" but yes, it was notorized. And now 60+ years later the gas company is still paying only $500 per year to the heirs.

    I mean, the gas company has been - and still is - getting rich while the heirs are collecting chump change.

    Where might I find precedents of similar lease contracts that were broken?

    Any comments you may offer on this will be appreciated.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Posts
    811

    Default Re: 60 Year Old Lifetime Gas Lease

    $500 per year was pretty good 60 years ago when it was likely signed. In fact, several of the leases on my (now) ex-wife's family property included free gas. In West Virginia and Kentucky, for example's sake, it is possible for a company to own the mineral rights and the occupant of the land just to lease the property required for the mining equipment and the transmission equipment. For the most part that gas pocket likely covers the land of several families and none of the families own the mineral rights.


    Many people live on top of active coal mines; in those cases the mining companies don't even notify or pay the families unless mining has caused damage to their land. In some cases these mining companies will have mined the coal and closed the mine AND closed their mining sub-company operating the mine well before some sinkholes develop or some foundations crack. In some cases the property owner will have mineral rights and the mining company will either pay for the rights, lease the rights, or even mine around the person's minerals. It's interesting to see a coal map where they have the family's name and the border for the mineral. They will even let the family have a sureyor make sure that it is untouched. This generally happens when someone wants well over the prevailing amount for the coal (people do this because they know it's of great cost for the mining company to go around it...they don't care about profit from the coal)
    ...but that's not part of this discussion.

    The usage of the X might indicate that your relative was not capable of signing their name or didn't know how to sign their name, at the time they signed the contract. For that matter there are adult Americans that can't sign their name. This was also common 60 years ago in WV, OH, and KY as it applies to some of these leases. For the most part they were 99-year leases (at least for my ex-wife's family), but lifetime leases exist.

    The downside is that the person who signed it likely did not understand the magnitude of what they were signing, the fact that the value of natural gas and natural gas products would grow, and probably didn't have the money to spend for an attorney or thought because attorneys charged so much they were "crooks". <soapbox> We all hate doctors and attorneys because they earn so much and we give no regard to the cost of their education, both in dollars, income lost while in school, and time required to get the degree and experience necessary to be "good" at what they do. That having been said, I am not an attorney or doctor. </soapbox>

    I digress (again)...
    The X is valid unless you, the estate, or the heirs can prove that your family member did not sign the document. Because of literacy it is common to see these contracts. Certain provisions in the contract may not be or may no longer be valid. Your state is not listed here, but you are going to have to check with an attorney that practices in your state.

    My advice is to take the contract to an attorney that specializes in mineral rights. There are few there that represent individuals and not the mining companies. You can find them through the State Bar for your state. They may charge or they may not charge for a consultation. You may find some interesting things out about the lease, such as your family didn't own the gas and the chump change is just the price to have the unsightly equipment on the land.

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