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My mother passed away in 2014. She owned mineral rights in…

My mother passed away...

My mother passed away in 2014 . She owned mineral rights in West Virginia. Upon her death these mineral rights transferred to her trust. The trust says that they are to go to my dad. My dad passed away in 2016. A layer in Maryland is saying that these need to be turned over to my fathers estate . The Orphans Court in W. Va. Is telling me that these oil and gas are considered real property and cannot be transferred to an estate. I was told that they need to go to the beneficiary that is listed in the trust and that they must be living. What is the truth?

Lawyer's Assistant: What documents or supporting evidence do you have?

All I have is my mothers trust and the tax bills for the minerals

Lawyer's Assistant: Anything else you want the lawyer to know before I connect you?

That I am the trustee for my mothers estate

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Answered in 5 minutes by:

9/25/2019

Estate Lawyer: Law Educator, Esq., Attorney replied 3 months ago

Law Educator, Esq., Attorney

Category: Estate Law

Satisfied Customers: 140,690

Experience: Experienced in Trust and Succession Law, including Louisiana Laws

Verified

Thank you for your question. I look forward to working with you to provide you the information you are seeking for educational purposes only.

If you do not want a phone call, please do not get upset with the expert, just ignore any phone service request, the expert does not send those unless asked by customer and they are sent by the site automatically.
If the mineral rights deed stated that upon your mom's death the rights went into trust, the MD lawyer is wrong.
Furthermore, you need to sit with a WV attorney and provide them proof of death and they would get the trustee (if no trustee is in place).
The MD lawyer cannot make you put these in the estate, he is incorrect and whoever the trustee is for the trust needs to tell him that.

Please do not forget to leave positive feedback by clicking on the 5 stars at the top of your page (bottom on the App), as the experts are not employees of the site and get no credit for spending time with customers unless they leave positive feedback. If you think you have given the expert credit for their time just by paying the site fee, YOU DID NOT it was only a deposit, sorry for that confusion caused by the site. Even if you have a membership, you still have to leave positive feedback on every new question, it does not cost you anything more, or we experts get zero credit when you do not leave positive feedback each question. Thank you.

Customer reply replied 3 months ago

Where would I find the mineral rights deed or do you mean my mothers willHow do I cancel this service?

Estate Lawyer: Law Educator, Esq., Attorney replied 3 months ago

Thank you for your reply. I am sorry we took a little time to respond, please do not get upset with us as we are typing to other customers too and they all deserve the same time you deserve.

You said the deed and will said the trust was beneficiary.
The deed is at the property records office
Your trust should have a trustee, they would be the one to deal with it.

Customer reply replied 3 months ago

I am the trustee.

Estate Lawyer: Law Educator, Esq., Attorney replied 3 months ago

Thank you for your additional information.

The deed is in the county land records where the property is located, the mineral deed should be there.
If there is any company taking oil and gas at this time, then they should have a copy too.

Customer reply replied 3 months ago

I am very confused now. I have never seen the oil and gas deed. I do however have a copy of my mothers will and a copy of her trust. Everything was willed to my Dad. The trust says the same thing. My Dad passed away in 2016. The lawyers for his estate are telling me that those mineral rights have to be transferred to his estate, however W.Va is telling me that they can't go into an estate , they must be transferred to a living person. I need to know if that is true.

Estate Lawyer: Law Educator, Esq., Attorney replied 3 months ago

Thank you for your reply.

That is more information now.
If there is a trust and the rights went into the trust at time of mom's death, then the trust beneficiaries receive the property, not your dad's estate.
If your dad was a beneficiary of the trust, upon his death no probate is required the secondary beneficiaries get the property.
As the rights are part of the trust, they stay in trust and the new beneficiaries take over as beneficiaries of the trust.

They do not go to the estate, they stay in trust and go to the beneficiary of the trust.

Customer reply replied 3 months ago

My dad was the beneficiary.

Estate Lawyer: Law Educator, Esq., Attorney replied 3 months ago

Was there any secondary beneficiary?

Customer reply replied 3 months ago

my brother

Estate Lawyer: Law Educator, Esq., Attorney replied 3 months ago

Thank you for your reply.

If there is a secondary beneficiary of the trust, that is who becomes the new primary beneficiary of the trust, not your dad's estate and you need to inform the MD attorney of that. Send them a copy of the trust.

Customer reply replied 3 months ago

Technically, according to the trust they should have went to my dad upon my mothers death, he was alive at that time. He died two years later. Now the lawyers for his estate are saying that I have to transfer them to his estate.

Estate Lawyer: Law Educator, Esq., Attorney replied 3 months ago

Thank you for your reply.

If there is a secondary beneficiary, they go to the secondary beneficiary upon the death of the primary. So if your dad was beneficiary and your brother was secondary, they go to your brother.
This sounds like the lawyer may be confused, which is why I said that as trustee you need to send the the copy of the trust to show them that your brother is secondary.

Customer reply replied 3 months ago

Why wouldn't they go to my dad's estate first and then my brother? Just asking so that I am clearly understanding.

Estate Lawyer: Law Educator, Esq., Attorney replied 3 months ago

Thank you for your reply.

A trust is used to avoid probate.
The trust determines where the property goes.
If the trust said upon your mom's death the rights went in trust where your dad was beneficiary and that your brother was secondary, that means that while alive your dad received benefits of trust, but upon death, the rights pass under the trust to the secondary beneficiary without probate.

Customer reply replied 3 months ago

I not sure that I made my situation clear to you. My mothers trust was set up in Maryland. The oil and gas rights are in WVa. My mother passed in 2014. At that time the rights were passed to her trust. The trust says that everything went to my dad with my brother and I as secondary beneficiaries. My dad passed in 2016. The attorney for my dad is telling me that I have to deed over to my fathers estate the oil and gas mineral rights. WVa is telling me that these mineral rights are considered property and they have to go to a living person , not an estate.

Estate Lawyer: Law Educator, Esq., Attorney replied 3 months ago

Thank you for your reply.

No probate is required, that is why you use a trust.
The mineral rights stay in the trust.
The secondary beneficiaries receive the benefits.
A trust IS A LEGAL PERSON. That means the trust continues to hold the rights for you and your brother's benefit and I suggest perhaps you get another trust attorney in MD to handle this because this is the sole reason for using a trust.

Please do not forget to leave positive feedback by clicking on the 5 stars at the top of your page (bottom on the App), as the experts are not employees of the site and get no credit for spending time with customers unless they leave positive feedback. If you think you have given the expert credit for their time just by paying the site fee, YOU DID NOT it was only a deposit, sorry for that confusion caused by the site. Even if you have a membership, you still have to leave positive feedback on every new question, it does not cost you anything more, or we experts get zero credit when you do not leave positive feedback each question. Thank you.

Law Educator, Esq., Attorney

Category: Estate Law

Satisfied Customers: 140,690

Experience: Experienced in Trust and Succession Law, including Louisiana Laws

Verified

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DISCLAIMER: Answers from Experts on JustAnswer are not substitutes for the advice of an attorney. JustAnswer is a public forum and questions and responses are not private or confidential or protected by the attorney-client privilege. The Expert above is not your attorney, and the response above is not legal advice. You should not read this response to propose specific action or address specific circumstances, but only to give you a sense of general principles of law that might affect the situation you describe. Application of these general principles to particular circumstances must be done by a lawyer who has spoken with you in confidence, learned all relevant information, and explored various options. Before acting on these general principles, you should hire a lawyer licensed to practice law in the jurisdiction to which your question pertains.

The responses above are from individual Experts, not JustAnswer. The site and services are provided “as is”. To view the verified credential of an Expert, click on the “Verified” symbol in the Expert’s profile. This site is not for emergency questions which should be directed immediately by telephone or in-person to qualified professionals. Please carefully read the Terms of Service (last updated February 8, 2012).

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