We own some property and have a fee simple deed. How would I know whether I have mineral rights or if the seller retained the mineral rights. The seller is now deceased and we never thought about it until an oil company came around wanting to know who owned the land and who had the mineral rights because they are expanding mineral (oil) extractions in our area. Thanks for your help.

The official property records will show all legal rights to the property, including ownership of the land, mineral rights, easements, rights of way, rights of access, rights to take minerals from the property, etc. Most title companies provide this kind of information with the closing documents during the purchase/sale process. If you can not obtain a copy of those documents, you can certainly try to check with your county's property records office.

You can certainly try to speak to an attorney regarding your legal options. You can find more information about an attorney through the locator service on LawInfo'shome page at: http://www.lawinfo.com/. Some do offer free consultations. Good luck.