A previous article discusses more generally the notice requirements in Ohio’s Dormant Minerals Act
Who must be notified?
Before declaring a mineral interest as abandoned, a surface owner must first provide adequate notice to the “mineral holder.”  Many times, the mineral holder is deceased and has been for many years.   If that’s true, the surface owner must notify the holder’s heirs.
Who are a holder’s heirs?
It depends on the structure of the holder’s family.  It could be a surviving spouse, the holder’s children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, or even aunts and uncles depending largely on how long ago the mineral holder died.
How do I locate a mineral holder’s heirs?
Unless you personally know the mineral holder (or their family), chances are you don’t know the …

What’s a Protection Lease?
Suppose there is an issue with the title to minerals under a 100 acre farm and it is clear that either Party A owns those minerals or Party B owns them.  Suppose further that this farm sits in the middle of a planned unit for a horizontal Utica shale well.  What can an oil and gas producer do to fix that situation?  More frequently, producers are using ‘protection’ leases to address this situation.
In the above example, the producer would obtain leases from both Party A and Party B, paying only a nominal amount upon signing of the lease.  A side agreement is also signed where all agree that any production royalties due on the acreage will be …

Some of the issues discussed below have been clarified by Ohio courts.  Read more here. 
Background
Over the past few years, Ohio’s courts, at all levels, have dealt with a number of issues pertaining to O.R.C. 5301.56, often referred to as Ohio’s dormant mineral statute. At this point in time, several such issues are about to be ruled upon by Ohio’s Supreme Court. One issue of importance, however, has received little mention in court rulings to date. That issue concerns the notice requirements by a landowner seeking to recapture dormant minerals. More particularly, what are those requirements?
Notice Requirements
(E) Before a mineral interest becomes vested under division (B) of this section in the owner of the surface of the lands subject to …

Overview
Ohio’s dormant minerals act (DMA) is designed to rejuvenate abandoned oil and gas reservations by granting them to the surface owner (a more detailed explanation of the DMA can be found here).
A basic DMA process with one oil and gas holder:
In a very basic scenario, the Surface Owner notifies the oil and gas Holder that their rights will be declared abandoned in 60 days.  In order to retain their interests, the Holder must record a claim form prior to the 60th day.  A timely filed claim form shuts down the whole process: the Surface Owner cannot re-capture the Holder’s interests.
A complex DMA process with several oil and gas holders:
In a more typical scenario, there are several oil and gas Holders, …

Below are the materials the National Business Institute asked me to prepare for a seminar on Oil and Gas law.
LEASE / OWNERSHIP CHALLENGES, DISPUTES AND NEGOTIATIONS
A.  Recent case law and litigation trends
Though Ohio was one of the earliest states to have commercial production of oil and gas, surprisingly, it has not developed much of a body of case law in the field of oil and gas.  Frequently, the laws of other states must be reviewed to find cases on point – Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana seem to have the most published opinions concerning oil and gas.
The advent of the Utica shale has changed things.  Numerous oil and gas cases have been filed in Ohio over the last several years and …

This article discusses situations arising when several people own the same piece of land, and only some of them sign an oil and gas lease.  Resolving this issue requires a discussion of basic property ownership principles.
Types of Land Ownership
Ownership in land takes many forms.  Some individuals are the sole owner of their land.  Another piece of land could be owned by several people, such as when brothers and sisters inherit land from a parent.  This joint ownership of a piece of property is usually called a tenancy in common, with the owners themselves known as tenants in common , or co-tenants.
Settling Disputes Between Co-Tenants
Owning property with others may very well result in disputes about how the property should be …

I sold my property but did not reserve the mineral rights. Why am I still receiving royalty checks?
If you did not reserve mineral rights when you sold your property, you are almost certainly not entitled to royalty checks anymore. The reason the oil and gas company keeps sending them is simple: they don’t know that the property has been sold. Somebody has to tell them. Just because they keep sending checks does not mean that you are entitled to them.
Typically the new owner takes this responsibility upon themselves because they want to start receiving royalty checks. Sometimes, however, they forget. As the former owner, you want to get this cleaned up so that the company doesn’t continue to report this …