So, it turns out that back when I working on my dad's estate I forgot to assign a water share certificate to my name. It is jointly owned with my uncle and he had the original, which he couldn't find. Eventually I stopped asking and forgot about it.

Now that we are going to sell the water right and my uncle has died, his son has found the certificate, and my real estate lawyer is rolling his eyes because we are going to have to reopen my dad's estate to change the ownership of the water share.

I'm thinking it can't be that big a deal, it's just a matter of getting back in touch with the estate lawyer, whom I enjoy working with, and probably some court documents, and maybe getting the water share appraised and maybe having to pay more federal and state estate taxes. Maybe it is going to be a big deal after all, but I'm keeping a good thought that it won't be all that bad.