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pricejan Asked October 2014

What are the mineral rights laws in Texas and how it pertains to Medicare and Medicaid eligibility?

Mother owns mineral rights, was paid a lump sum several years ago and does not receive a monthly payment. How does this affect benefits?

igloo572 Oct 2014
Price - so just what was she paid for? What did she sell and get a lump sum payment for? You really are going to need more detailed information on just what she "owns" or has as an asset to be able to correctly identify it for Medicaid.

Medicaid in TX & LA is used to dealing with oil, gas & mineral stuff. Now the initial application will likely get a secondary review from the initial caseworker review. So it's important the whatever you put down is accurate. O&G is so common that listing income / payments from O&G is one of the ? that has to be answered in the annual renewal for Medicaid on page 2 of the renewal form. The payment - if it is large enough to throw off Medicaid for the month it's paid - can be amortized for the year so not an issue. This is similar to if they have an old life insurance policy which is paid up and produces a dividend - this is another income ? on the renewal. My mom had this & the dividend gets plowed back into the policy. Same thing, you report it and it's amortized so keeps them under the asset & income limits for Medicaid. Done all the time, no worries.

My first guess is that she sold a land lease, so that is what she was paid for. But she retained ownership of the property and can get royalty payments. If its a royalty lease, then she doesn't own it (the mineral) just whatever $ amount on the % passed through the leased land. The royalty dependent on current price for the mineral. And for more fun in all this, there is a difference between a royalty deed and a mineral deed. Royalty deeds do NOT actually transfer the mineral rights, but only a right to receive royalty from the mineral if & when it is produced. The grantor of the royalty retains the actual ownership of the minerals. Royalty deed seem to be more common and folks call them mineral rights but the actual document is really a royalty deed not a mineral deed.

My experience in all this was from when I was executrix for an aunt who had O&G and it was impossible for me to figure all this out & I'm pretty OCD on stuff but every document was something different and varied by county.Even within the same field. We had a landman out of Houston to deal with it and it was somewhat co$$tly & at the end the value was close to no value as they were only royalty on dead wells with long chains conveyance of titles. We're not talking Spindletop & this was years ago and way way before fracking even existed.

I'd suggest looking & carefully reading the documents to see what's what.

About her not receiving a monthly payment, that can make total sense. Often for production, they only pay when it meets a certain mark. Can be low like $ 10 in a quarter or could be like $ 100 annual before any royalty gets paid. If it's a dry well and produced next to nothing, they can go for ages before a check ever gets issued. Family may not even know of it's existence as it's been decades since production happened. When oil was low, it just wasn't worth dealing with older ones but the leases remained in effect. Prices are higher now plus all that fracking, so old wells are being reworked. Really even if she gets a payment next year, it is likely to be low. If this is a pass through like the 1/32nd of 1/10 of section # 1234 in field # 4567 situation typical lease, it won't be much ever. But think of all the learning experience your gonna get in all this! Good luck.

pamstegma Oct 2014
If it is not producing income, it will not affect benefits, BUT I suggest you read the document carefully to determine if it has market value. Let's say next year it produces income--- that income would have to go to her care. If the rights are sold or transferred, the market value would impact her benefits.

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