I had a guy leave me a voicemail the other day saying he was a landman and was trying to reach the heirs of my Mom's name (which is just me lol) and that she owned an interest in property in Houston County and about owning a gas lease. My Mom died 2 years ago and we have settled all her finances and everything a long time ago and I didn't know about any gas lease or mineral rights. That said, she made some other financial decisions unbeknownst to me so she very well could have. Also, she never lived in Houston County but her Dad did as a boy and his family was out there so I'm wondering if she was the beneficiary of maybe my Grandpa's rights or something. I looked the Landman's name up and found his LinkedIn so I think he's legit.

Anyway, my 2 questions for Texags before I call him back are:

1) Where or how can I look up if my Mom has any gas lease or mineral rights in Houston county? Any suggestions on how I can discover if my Mom has anything like this I didn't know about?

2) How can I verify this is not a scam and is legit besides obviously not giving him my personal financial info or something? I 'm planning on asking who he works for and then contacting his company to verify that. It might be obvious that he's legit but hey it's 2026 scam/hacker world sooooo.

Thanks for any suggestions or help!

If this has crept up, you didn't close out all her assets and estate. You should contact the attorney who helped you with the estate. Before that, call the guy back and see what it is about. Don't give him any permission or money, just get info to take to the lawyer.

I replied to your RE board post.

If it is just the mineral or royalty rights it is pretty easy to overlook, especially if they have not been leased in the past or ever produced.

Plenty of times I contacted people who had no idea a deceased relative retained mineral or royalty rights on property that was long ago sold.

It happens all the time. People forget or never even know about mineral interests they own. The 'rest and residue' clause in will should take care of it.

The landman has already done most of title work. Get them to walk you through it or provide the title chain.

Since you said Houston County, it's probably Expand Energy or one of their brokers. Expand is re-branded of Chesapeake. They are crooks, stay away.

Why do you say Expand Energy is crooked?

You better find out if there is revenue in suspense…

This. When landman reached out about mineral rights my dad owned for 50 years but we didn't know about there was a good initial payment from production in the past.

Maroon Flash said:

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Why do you say Expand Energy is crooked?

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Because they are. They routinely underpay royalty owners on royalty. As a business practice, they also fudge the carrying costs.

380sl said:

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You better find out if there is revenue in suspense…

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As well as money that has been turned over to the State of Texas. I was looking through the unclaimed property and decided I would look for anything that family, friends, and some former clients might own but is held by the state. This one gal that was a client and a friend, had $38,000 plus or minus in one royalty, she is the beneficiary of an estate that had like $64,000 being held, also royalty, and her son had like $1,700 in royalty sitting there. I called her and she was aware of all of these and had gotten around $14,000 or $17,000 a few months ago on another one.

Why would it be a scam unless they are asking you for money or to give up your mineral rights? If they want to lease your mineral rights and you actually have them it's perfectly legit . You should research what constitutes competitive terms for leasing your mineral rights in your area before agreeing to anything tho. Also consider what they are asking for in terms of related surface rights if there are any surface rights being pursued . You might want to lease them your mineral rights but also may not want their operations on your land depending on the circumstances.

When the oil company sends you money, whether it is for past royalty payments that have been held in suspension or for the purchase of your mother's interest, make sure to run that money through your mother's estate. That way you will not owe any taxes on the money the oil company sends.

It's about $5 to get a copy of a warranty deed on line (TexasFile). Mineral reservations are recorded there.