You inherited an interest in Texas, or you are about to. Here is what the state actually requires to put it in your name, what can take it away if you do nothing, where the money goes when the operator cannot find you, and the order to do things in. Written by a mineral buyer who pays for the probate on a committed deal, so read it with that in mind.
Updated November 2026. Written by Stephen Clayman, career landman and owner of Berlin Royalties. Statutes were checked against primary sources; this is general information from a buyer, not legal advice, and the state-specific details are the reason to call a Texas attorney, not a substitute for one.
Not always. Texas lets heirs record an affidavit of heirship, which becomes prima facie evidence of title after five years of record, and many operators and buyers accept it sooner. A will with no debts can be probated as a muniment of title without an executor. The small estate affidavit does not work for minerals, because it cannot pass non-homestead real property.
Minerals in place are land under Texas law, so they pass like real property. The most used tool is the affidavit of heirship under Estates Code 203.001: a recorded statement of family history, signed by disinterested witnesses, that becomes prima facie evidence of heirship once it has been of record five years or more in the county deed records. Title companies and buyers often accept it earlier. It never adjudicates heirship, and it does not cut off an heir who was left out.
If there is a will and no unpaid debts other than liens on real estate, the court can admit the will as a muniment of title under Estates Code 257.001, with no executor appointed; the order and the will are recorded in the deed records and that is the transfer. The small estate affidavit under Estates Code 205.001 is for intestate estates up to $75,000 excluding homestead and exempt property, and the only real property it can pass is the homestead, so an estate with severed minerals does not qualify. Larger or contested estates go through a dependent or independent administration.
Yes. The Texas Real Property Transfer on Death Act, Estates Code chapter 114, lets an owner transfer an interest in real property located in Texas at death by a recorded transfer on death deed, and a mineral or royalty interest is an interest in real property. It must be recorded before death.
No. Texas has no dormant mineral act. A severed mineral or royalty interest does not lapse for nonuse.
Natural Resources Code 91.402 requires first payment within 120 days after the end of the month of first sale, then 60 days for oil and 90 days for gas after the end of the month of sale if the lease is silent. Under 91.403, late payments bear interest at two points above the New York Federal Reserve rate, four points if the payor never gave notice of a change in payor, and no interest runs during a bona fide title dispute, which is exactly the situation an unprobated estate creates. Written notice is required before suit under 91.404. Our letter generator writes the statutory demand, and the full state table is on royalty payment laws by state.
Search ClaimItTexas (Texas Comptroller) under the decedent's name and every spelling of it. Mineral proceeds are abandoned after three years under Property Code 75.101, running from the first uncashed or returned check or the date the money went to suspense, and holders report them by July 1. Search under every spelling of the decedent's name. Our unclaimed royalties hub covers the search in every state we buy in, and we run it free whether or not you sell.
Texas repealed its inheritance tax effective September 1, 2015 and has no estate tax. Inherited minerals take a federal stepped-up basis at date of death. The arithmetic is on our capital gains and depletion page, and a date-of-death appraisal is what documents the basis.
The printable version of that list, with the title path for every state, is our executor's checklist for mineral rights.
Send a photo of whatever you have. We will tell you what the family owns, what it pays, whether any money is sitting in suspense or with the state, what the title needs, and what it is worth, in writing and with the reasoning shown. Free, and the answer is the same whether or not you sell.
Get a Free Valuation Text a Check StubOr call or text 918-984-1645 and ask for Stephen.
It is prima facie evidence after five years of record under Estates Code 203.001. Many operators and buyers accept it sooner, especially with disinterested witnesses, but the five years is when the law starts presuming it correct.
No. The small estate affidavit under Estates Code 205.001 can pass only the homestead among real property, and severed minerals are real property. Use an affidavit of heirship, a muniment of title, or an administration.
Texas has no general compulsory pooling for private minerals outside the limited Mineral Interest Pooling Act, so an unleased inherited interest is not forced into a unit. That cuts both ways: no pooling order to answer, but also no production from a unit you did not sign.