One of the few good things my (and L’s) father ever did was to be born into a family that had inherited stakes in an oil field. When he died, his share passed to my two older sisters and I. Most years it was just an annoying real estate tax of a few dollars that my uncle would pay and we kids would settle up with him whenever it reached an amount for which it was worth writing a check. Leave it to good ol’ Dad to make even an inheritance more trouble than it’s worth.
Three years ago, though, a company decided they liked the promise this land would bring and signed a three year lease for drilling rights. It turned out to be a tidy little sum of money; even though my sisters’ and my shares have been diluted through several generations of inheritance splits, we received a little over $2000 each. Unfortunately, the company never actually drilled so there was no additional money like there would have been if they had producing wells on the land, but I wasn’t going to complain.
Well now the company is signing another three year lease for the land, paying a little more than they did last time, and apparently this time the lease stipulates that if they don’t drill in two years, they’ll pay us another $1000 (or so.) This indicates that they are more serious about drilling, and they wouldn’t do this if they weren’t pretty sure that there is good production there, which means monthly earnings. Yay me, right? Well, here’s where it gets complicated.
Three years ago I told L about the lease deal and the land (I didn’t say anything before because it never occurred to me, and the land had been mostly worthless for all the time I’d had anything to do with it), and told her that legally she would probably be entitled to a share of what our Dad had passed down. She said then that she didn’t want to bother with it and cause even more trouble for me with the two older sisters. In reality, it probably just seemed easier for her to ignore it than to look into what she’d have to do to stake a claim.
Fair enough; I might have felt the same way if I’d been in her position. Still, knowing the money would help her, I gave her half of my share (adjusted for the Federal taxes I wound up paying on the total). At first she tried to decline it, saying she didn’t need it and didn’t feel right taking it. She still had a relatively good paying job at the time, and though she and B were on their way to divorce and money was tight, she wasn't really desperate. But I told her I wasn’t giving her the money based on whether or not she needed it; I was giving it to her because as far as I was concerned, she had as much right to it as I did. I didn’t bother talking to the two older sisters about it because I knew what their reaction (especially the oldest one) would have been.
I’m running out of time now, so I’ll continue thistomorrow or maybe this weekend when I can.
Three years ago, though, a company decided they liked the promise this land would bring and signed a three year lease for drilling rights. It turned out to be a tidy little sum of money; even though my sisters’ and my shares have been diluted through several generations of inheritance splits, we received a little over $2000 each. Unfortunately, the company never actually drilled so there was no additional money like there would have been if they had producing wells on the land, but I wasn’t going to complain.
Well now the company is signing another three year lease for the land, paying a little more than they did last time, and apparently this time the lease stipulates that if they don’t drill in two years, they’ll pay us another $1000 (or so.) This indicates that they are more serious about drilling, and they wouldn’t do this if they weren’t pretty sure that there is good production there, which means monthly earnings. Yay me, right? Well, here’s where it gets complicated.
Three years ago I told L about the lease deal and the land (I didn’t say anything before because it never occurred to me, and the land had been mostly worthless for all the time I’d had anything to do with it), and told her that legally she would probably be entitled to a share of what our Dad had passed down. She said then that she didn’t want to bother with it and cause even more trouble for me with the two older sisters. In reality, it probably just seemed easier for her to ignore it than to look into what she’d have to do to stake a claim.
Fair enough; I might have felt the same way if I’d been in her position. Still, knowing the money would help her, I gave her half of my share (adjusted for the Federal taxes I wound up paying on the total). At first she tried to decline it, saying she didn’t need it and didn’t feel right taking it. She still had a relatively good paying job at the time, and though she and B were on their way to divorce and money was tight, she wasn't really desperate. But I told her I wasn’t giving her the money based on whether or not she needed it; I was giving it to her because as far as I was concerned, she had as much right to it as I did. I didn’t bother talking to the two older sisters about it because I knew what their reaction (especially the oldest one) would have been.
I’m running out of time now, so I’ll continue thistomorrow or maybe this weekend when I can.
I think this is pretty cool for a brother to treat his sister this way! Bring on part 2.
ReplyDeletePeace <3
Jay