Find your unclaimed mineral and oil royalties

When an oil or gas company cannot deliver a royalty check, it does not keep the money. It places the funds in a suspense account, most often because an owner moved without leaving an address, an owner died and the operator never learned who the heirs were, a name is misspelled in the title, or a division order was never signed. The funds stay in suspense until the owner is found. If too much time passes, generally 3 to 5 years, state law requires the operator to hand the money to the state's unclaimed property program, a process called escheatment. So the money is either still at the operator, or in a state fund, and both are recoverable.

Because royalties can escheat to more than one state, the reliable approach is to search all five of these. First, the national database at MissingMoney.com, which is free and managed by NAUPA. Then, on unclaimed.org, the official program for the state where the minerals are, the state where you or the late owner lived, and the state where the operator is headquartered. Fifth, Delaware, because a large share of operators are incorporated there and Delaware does not report to MissingMoney. For federal or tribal minerals, the funds are administered by the Office of Natural Resources Revenue rather than a state.

If the money has not reached the state yet, you recover it from the operator, so you need to know who operates the well today. Each state's oil and gas regulator publishes a well and production database, and the U.S. Geological Survey keeps an index of links to every state's well data. One caution worth stating plainly: regulators hold well and production records, not the money. The Railroad Commission of Texas, for example, says directly that it has no authority over the payment of royalties or the right to receive them. Use the regulator to identify the operator, then take the royalty question to that operator or to the state unclaimed property fund.

Filing is straightforward and free. Once a search returns a match, open the claim on that state's official program and gather what they ask for: a photo ID, proof that you owned or inherited the interest such as a deed, a will, or a prior check stub, and an affidavit of heirship if you are claiming as an heir. Submit through the state program directly. If a private finder has mailed you an offer to do this for a share of the money, you do not need them, because the same claim is free when you file it yourself.