What California Residents Say About Selling Their Minerals

We've helped hundreds of California residents sell mineral rights they inherited in Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and other states. Here are some of their stories.

Names and some details have been changed to protect privacy. Story themes and outcomes are representative of actual client experiences.

"My grandmother passed away and left me minerals in Midland County, Texas. I'd never been to Texas in my life. The royalty checks were around $200/month, but the paperwork was constant—division orders, tax forms, statements I didn't understand. When my wife and I started planning for our daughter's college, we decided to sell. The lump sum helped us pay for two years of tuition at UCLA. No regrets."

"My family had these tiny Oklahoma mineral interests spread across four different counties—leftovers from my great-grandfather's time. The checks were embarrassingly small, like $15-30 per month total, but I had to deal with four different operators and file multi-state taxes every year. It was absurd. Selling made my life so much simpler. The money wasn't life-changing, but eliminating that annual headache was worth it."

"I knew nothing about minerals until the Bakken boom. Suddenly I'm getting calls from landmen wanting to lease my family's old farm in McKenzie County. My grandparents homesteaded there in the 1930s—I'd never even seen the place. The royalties were good for a few years, but then started declining fast. I figured I'd rather have the cash now while the area is still valuable than wait for the checks to dwindle to nothing. Used the proceeds to pay down my San Francisco mortgage."

"My father worked in the oil fields in Lea County, New Mexico back in the 1970s. He bought some minerals with his savings. When he passed, my sister and I inherited them. She lives in Florida, I'm in Sacramento—neither of us wanted to deal with New Mexico minerals. We decided to sell together and split the proceeds. The process was surprisingly easy. We both signed at our local notaries and got paid within a month."

"I'm a retired engineer. I like to understand things. But the oil and gas industry? It's like another language. Pugh clauses, pooling orders, retained acreage—I spent hours trying to figure out if I was being treated fairly. At some point I realized I was spending my retirement stressed about something 1,500 miles away instead of enjoying life. Selling was the right choice for my peace of mind."

"Estate planning was my motivation. My kids have no interest in oil and gas, and I didn't want them dealing with this after I'm gone. The minerals would have been split four ways, making them even more complicated to manage. I sold everything, put the proceeds in index funds, and now my kids will inherit something straightforward. They thanked me for thinking ahead."

Why California Owners Sell

Based on our experience with California sellers, the top reasons include:

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Disclaimer: The testimonials on this page represent individual experiences. Outcomes vary based on mineral location, production, and market conditions. Names and identifying details have been changed to protect client privacy.