Ten chapters, plain English, published in full on the site rather than hidden behind a form: what you own, what can legally come out of your check, whether your minerals can be taken from you, what happens when they drill, what you owe when you sell, and ten questions that make any buyer squirm. Written separately for each of the 20 states we buy in, because the law is what decides most of it.
Mineral interests, royalties, and decimals explained. The four letters every owner eventually gets. Forced pooling without the panic. The real valuation math buyers use, producing and non-producing. How to read a royalty statement. The heir's playbook, including the stepped-up basis. When not to sell, written by a buyer. And the ten-question checklist to use on everyone, including us.
Written by Stephen Clayman, career landman and publisher of The Oil Scout since 2015. Useful whether you ever sell or not; that's the point.
The universal chapters are the same everywhere. The parts that decide what actually lands in your bank account, deductions, payment deadlines, pooling penalties, dormancy, and taxes, are different in every state, and that is where these differ. Nothing is gated.
Forced pooling, the 20-day election, and 12 percent late interest
No state income tax, Fasken and Van Dyke, and almost no compulsory pooling
18 percent late penalty, and withholding taken from your monthly check
Your minerals lapse after 20 years unless you file a statement of claim
20-year abandonment, a cost-free 16 percent, and the lowest income tax we see
Why 6 percent is withheld from your check before you ever see it
Deductions barred by statute, and no income tax when you sell
The 45 percent pooling threshold, and 2 percent withheld at closing
Mineral servitudes prescribe after ten years of nonuse. Only state where that is true
Strohacker and the lithium question, and why your spouse must sign
20 days to answer a pooling order, 300 percent if you miss it, 5 percent withheld
The 8 percent privilege tax, and an election deadline that runs off the spud
Royalty owners do not bear severance tax, and dower and curtesy still apply
A real dormant minerals act, and the strongest no-deduction statute in the country
Private parties hold 22 percent of the Uinta, and a 150 to 400 percent pooling band
Tawney, the most owner-favorable deduction rule anywhere, and 2.5 percent withheld
Two separate statutes let a surface owner take your severed minerals
The Dunham Rule, no severance tax, and inheritance tax that follows you anywhere
Kern is the biggest oil county in America and nobody will quote it
Rare private interests, overrides on North Slope leases, and no income tax