A royalty check stops for a short list of reasons, and most of them leave a mark in a record you can read for free. Find yours, see what to do, and check whether your lease is still producing.
Endeavor → Diamondback in January. That month was never paid.
UnpaidJan 2025
Barrels to the owner's interest, from the state record. Sample owner. The statements are made up for this demo; the production data is real.
Find your reason
What changed, and what to do about it
Pick the one that sounds most like your situation. Each answer says what it means, what to do, the question to ask, and the law behind it.
Checks stopped or dropped. What changed?
Reason 1 of 7
A new company took over as operator
You may see: a new name on the stub, or a month with no check right after one.
What it means
The state record shows a different company reporting your lease. The new payor has to tell you who it is, in writing, within the time it has to pay you. The notice carries the property name and number, the sales month, a description of the property, and an address and phone number for questions. If interest is owed and no notice was sent, the interest rate goes up by two points. A change of operator alone does not change your lease or your decimal.
What to do
Look up your lease and read its operator history. It shows the month the new company first reported it.
Look for the new payor's notice. It can be a letter, a division order, or a note on the check stub.
If no notice came, write to the new company's owner relations. Give your owner number and lease name, and ask for the notice and for the status of the months either side of the switch.
Check those months first. A payment can fall between two companies, each waiting for the other.
The question to ask
Please send the change-of-payor notice required by Natural Resources Code section 91.407, and tell me which company is responsible for paying the months on either side of the change.
You may see: a letter about a sale, a new division order to sign, or a new owner number.
What it means
After a sale the buyer usually pays from an effective date, and the seller may pay up to it. You may be asked to sign a new division order. Texas limits what a division order can contain to the items listed in section 91.402(c), and it does not amend your lease. If you refuse an order that has extra provisions, the payor may not hold your money just for that reason.
What to do
Find the effective date of the sale in the letter. Ask which company pays the months on either side of it.
Read any new division order. Check the decimal against your last statement and against your lease.
Strike anything beyond the allowed list, and say so in writing when you send it back.
Keep the old and new statements together. The overlap is where you compare.
The question to ask
What is the effective date of the sale, which company is paying the months before and after it, and which parts of the division order go beyond section 91.402(c)?
You may see: no check and no letter, and the lease shows no recent months.
What it means
Royalty is paid on what is sold. If the well is shut in or has stopped producing there is nothing to pay on, unless your lease has a shut-in or minimum royalty clause, which pays a set sum. The state record shows, month by month, whether the lease is still reporting. What a stop does to the lease itself depends on the wording of your lease.
What to do
Use the checker on this page to see the last month the lease reported production.
Find the shut-in and minimum royalty clauses in your lease. The county courthouse where the land sits holds the lease documents.
Ask the operator in writing why the lease stopped, whether it will return to production, and whether a shut-in payment is due.
If the lease is still reporting and you are not being paid, this is not your reason. Try suspense or a change of interest.
The question to ask
Is this lease shut in? If so, since when and why, and is a shut-in or minimum royalty owed to me under the lease?
You may see: checks stopped after a death, a gift, a sale of the interest, or a divorce, and the payor asks for papers.
What it means
A payor may hold money, without interest, while there is a title dispute, reasonable doubt that you own the share, or a title-opinion requirement about your title, identity or whereabouts that you have not answered after a reasonable request. After a death the payor needs proof of who now owns the interest, so it usually holds the checks until it has it.
What to do
Ask the payor in writing what it needs to pay the new owner, and get the list.
Collect the papers: a certified death certificate, and the will with its probate order, or an affidavit of heirship, or a court judgment of heirship. A will generally must be admitted to probate within four years of the death.
Send the papers with a new W-9 and a signed division order in the new owner's name. Ask the payor to release the held months when it accepts them.
Keep copies and proof of delivery. Payments held under section 91.402(b) carry no interest, so the quickest fix is the missing paper.
The question to ask
What documents do you require to pay the heirs of the former owner on this lease, and are the payments since the date of death being held?
You may see: you moved, a check went to the old address, or mail came back.
What it means
A payor cannot pay someone it cannot find, and it may hold the money. If the money stays unclaimed for longer than three years after it became payable, Texas presumes it abandoned and it goes to the Comptroller. For amounts over $250 the payor has to send you written notice at least 60 days before it delivers the money, so a wrong address also means you never see the warning.
What to do
Write to the payor's owner relations with your owner number, the lease names, your old and new address, and a fresh W-9 if it asks.
Ask it to reissue any check that went to the old address, and to tell you the total it is holding for you.
Search your name on ClaimItTexas in case the money has already gone to the state.
Send the same notice to every company that pays you. Each keeps its own records.
The question to ask
Please update my address for my owner number, reissue any uncashed check, and tell me the total you are holding for me.
You may see: the stub says suspense or hold, or a letter asks for something. Money is accruing but is not paid.
What it means
Suspense means the payor keeps your share and does not pay it. Texas allows that, without interest, for the reasons in section 91.402(b): a title dispute, reasonable doubt about your title or that you authorized the sale of your share, an unanswered title-opinion request, or a child support lien or withholding order. If none of these applies, the payor can owe interest once the payment deadline has passed.
What to do
Ask in writing which of those reasons applies, and what paper ends it.
Send that paper and keep proof of delivery.
If there is no lawful reason and the deadline has passed, work out the interest, then send written notice by mail. The payor has 30 days after it receives it to pay or to answer in writing with a reason.
If it still does not pay, talk to a lawyer. The Railroad Commission cannot step in on royalty payments.
The question to ask
Which subsection of Natural Resources Code section 91.402(b) is the reason my proceeds are in suspense, and what do you need from me to release them?
You may see: a letter about unclaimed property, or no check for years.
What it means
Royalties unclaimed for longer than three years are presumed abandoned, along with the right to receive them and any later proceeds under it. The holder reports them by July 1 and delivers them to the Comptroller. The state holds the money with no deadline for you to claim it, and claiming is free. Interest stops when the money is delivered.
What to do
Search your name, your family's names and the operators' names on ClaimItTexas.
Add the property to your claim and file it online. You need a signed claim form and a photo ID.
Once you are paid, write to the operator so new proceeds come to you. Later proceeds under the same right are presumed abandoned too.
If a finder offers to do this for a fee, know the cap: 10 percent, and never a share of the minerals.
The question to ask
Please confirm the amounts you reported to the Comptroller for my owner number, and tell me what you need to pay future royalties to me directly.
Pick your lease. We read the Railroad Commission record and tell you whether it is still reporting, and whether the operator changed.
Type the lease name from your stub. Pick it from the list.
Your lease will show up here.
Thirteen months of production, whether the operator changed, and which reason below it points to.
What the law lets a payor do
May they hold your money?
A payor has 60 days after the end of the month to pay oil and 90 days for gas, unless your lease or another written agreement sets the time, and 120 days for the first payment from a new well. NRC §91.402 Only some reasons stop the clock.
May hold, without interest
1A dispute about title that would change who gets paid.
2Reasonable doubt that you authorized the sale of your share, or that you have clear title.
3A title-opinion requirement about your title, identity or whereabouts that you have not met after a reasonable request.
4A child support lien or an order or writ of withholding.
Interest runs from the end of the payment period, at two percentage points above the rate the New York Federal Reserve Bank charges on loans to depository institutions. NRC §91.403 A payor also may not hold your money only because you refused a division order that has extra provisions. NRC §91.402(e)
February 2025 oil, paid July 25: the clock
Feb
60 days to pay
87 days late
Feb 28, 2025Sale month ends. The clock starts.
Apr 29, 2025Oil due, 60 days later. Interest starts the next day.
May 29, 2025Gas due, 90 days after the month end.
Jul 25, 2025Paid. Oil was 87 days late, gas 57 days.
Drawn to scale, 174 days from the first of the sale month. Due dates are counted from the last day of the sale month.
Put it in writing
How to ask, so the payor has to answer
One letter, one question, sent so you can prove it arrived.
1
Step 1: Write down what you know
Your owner number, the lease name, and the months with no check. A photo of your last stub and the check number help.
2
Step 2: Send one letter with one question
Address it to owner relations. Ask which reason applies and what paper ends it. Use the question in the answer for your reason above.
3
Step 3: Send it by certified mail
Ask for a return receipt. A request for an explanation of deductions must go by certified mail, and the payor has 60 days to reply. NRC §91.504 Written notice by mail is also a step before any suit for nonpayment, and the payor then has 30 days to pay or to answer with a reason. NRC §91.404
4
Step 4: Keep everything, and know who cannot help
The Railroad Commission cannot intervene in royalty payments. RRC, Royalties FAQ If the payor does not pay, a lawyer can. The State Bar of Texas lawyer referral line is (800) 252-9690.
The usual reasons are a new operator or a sale of the lease, the lease shutting in, an owner's death or a change in who owns the interest, an old address on file, the payor holding your money in suspense, or the money having gone to the Comptroller as unclaimed property. The state record can rule some of these in or out in a minute: it shows whether the lease is still producing and whether the operator changed.
Can an operator legally stop paying my royalties?
A payor may hold payments without interest only for the reasons in Natural Resources Code section 91.402(b): a title dispute, reasonable doubt that you have clear title or authorized the sale of your share, an unanswered title-opinion request about your title, identity or whereabouts, or a child support lien or withholding order. If the lease itself stops producing there is nothing to pay on. For any other reason, interest can run once the payment deadline has passed.
While one of the section 91.402(b) reasons applies, until it is cleared up. Once money has gone unclaimed for longer than three years after it became payable, Texas presumes it abandoned and it goes to the Comptroller under Property Code section 75.101. The holder reports it by July 1 and, for amounts over $250, must send you written notice at least 60 days before delivering it.
My royalty checks stopped after a family member died. What now?
Ask the payor in writing what it needs to pay the new owners. It will usually want the death certificate and proof of who inherited, such as a probated will or an affidavit of heirship, plus a W-9 and a signed division order. Under Estates Code section 256.003 a will generally cannot be admitted to probate after the fourth anniversary of the death.
Does a change of operator mean I lose my royalties?
No. A change of operator alone does not change your lease or your decimal, and a division order does not amend the lease (section 91.402(c)(2)). What it does is put a new company in charge of paying you. That company must give you written notice within the time allowed for payment, and the months on either side of the switch are where a payment can be missed.
How do I know whether my lease is still producing?
The Railroad Commission publishes production for every lease, month by month. The checker on this page reads that record for the lease you pick and shows the last thirteen months, whether the lease reported in the newest month, and whether its operator changed. The record shows what the lease reported, not what the operator paid you.
The operator will not answer. Can the Railroad Commission help?
No. The Commission's guidance says its authority does not cover lease and royalty matters, including payment of royalties. Send the payor a written request by certified mail. It has 60 days to answer a request for an explanation of deductions (section 91.504), and 30 days after a written notice of nonpayment to pay or to explain why (section 91.404). If it still does not pay, speak to a lawyer. The State Bar of Texas lawyer referral line is (800) 252-9690.
Missing a month? Line every statement up against the state.
The check compares each month on your statements with what the Railroad Commission says the lease sold, and points to the months that are missing.
