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Do I own mineral rights in Texas?
- Type a nameYours, or the name of the relative you inherited from.
- See what matchesHow many names, accounts and counties, right away.
- Open the namesA free account shows each full name as the roll prints it, and the leases.
Already get royalty checks?
Check one against the state’s records, free.
Upload a statement or a check stub. We compare each month with what the operator reported to the state, and show you what does not add up. If the owner has died, the estate report finds every interest under their name.
Watch this guide · 7 minutes
Transcript of “Do you own mineral rights in Texas? 5 free ways to find out”
Intro
Somewhere in a shoebox, in a closet in Texas, there's a royalty check stub from 1987. The name on it is your grandmother's. And the well it came from might still be pumping today. So here's the question. Do you own a piece of it? In the next few minutes, I'll show you five free ways to find out, using the same public records a landman uses. This is general information, not legal advice. Let's open the case file.
The twist
First, the twist that surprises most people. In Texas, the land you walk on and the minerals underneath it can be owned by different people. Think of it like a layer cake. The surface is one slice. The oil and gas underneath is another. When land is sold, the seller can keep the minerals, sell them, or keep just part of them. So owning the farm does not prove you own what's under it. And not owning the farm doesn't mean you own nothing. The only way to know is to follow the paper trail. And that trail runs through five places.
The deeds
Clue number one. The deeds. Every sale of land in Texas is recorded with the county clerk, in the county where the land sits. Those records are public. Many counties have their index online, and the clerk's office can tell you how far back it goes. Search the grantor and grantee index for your family's names, then read each deed. You're hunting for a few magic phrases. Save and except. Reserves. Excepting the minerals. When a deed says the seller reserves one half of the minerals, that half stayed with the seller, and later passed to their heirs. Read every deed back to the last time the minerals were mentioned. That's where your chain starts.
The tax roll
Clue two is one most people never think of. The appraisal district's mineral roll. In Texas, producing oil and gas interests are taxed as property, every year, county by county. So the appraisal district keeps a list of every owner with a share of a producing lease, and what that share is worth. Search your own name, and the names of the people you might have inherited from, in every county where your family had land. If a name shows up, you've found an interest that is producing right now. That's exactly what the free mineral interest finder on Royalty Clerk does. It searches the rolls we hold, by name, in one place.
Papers in the drawer
Clue three is already in your house. Papers from an oil company. A royalty check stub names the lease, the county, the company that paid, and the owner's decimal interest. A 1099-MISC tax form with royalties in box 2 means someone paid royalties to that name. A division order is a company asking the owner to confirm their share before it pays. And a letter offering to buy or lease your minerals? Buyers don't write to random people. They found that name in the records. Every one of these names a lease and a company. Each one is a lead.
The state's records
Clue four. Follow the lease to the state. The Texas Railroad Commission keeps production records for every oil and gas lease in the state, month by month. It doesn't track who owns the minerals. But it tells you whether a lease is still producing, and which company operates it today. That matters, because companies sell leases to each other all the time. The company on grandma's 1987 stub may not even exist anymore. So look up the lease name or number, find today's operator, and call its owner relations desk about the account. Royalty Clerk's free Texas lease lookup does this in one search, with the production history on a chart.
Unclaimed money
Clue five might even pay you on the spot. When an oil company can't find an owner for more than three years, it has to send the royalties to the Texas Comptroller as unclaimed property. The money doesn't disappear. The state holds it for the owner. And there's no deadline to claim it. Search your name, and every relative who owned minerals, on ClaimItTexas.gov, the Comptroller's free website. A royalty listing points to a company, and a company points to a lease that may still be paying. We made a whole video on claiming it. It's linked at the end.
If it came from family
Now, what if the trail leads to a relative who has died? In Texas, minerals pass at death, either to the people named in a will once it's probated, or to the heirs set by Texas law when there's no will. But the oil company keeps the old name on the account until someone shows it proof. That proof is usually a probated will, a recorded affidavit of heirship, or a court judgment declaring heirship. Until then, the company can hold the royalties in suspense. The money isn't lost. It's waiting for paperwork. That's a big topic, so it has its own video too.
Found something?
Say you've found a match. Now what? Write down the lease name, the county, the operator, and the kind of interest you found. Then contact the operator's owner relations department. Tell them who you are, and how you're connected to the name on the account. They'll ask for proof. Usually a deed into your name, or the papers that show you inherited it. One warning. Never sign a lease, a deed, or a division order just to find out what you own. Read it first, and ask questions. A division order, for example, isn't supposed to change your lease, and it can't take away rights your lease gives you. And keep copies of everything you send, with the date you sent it. So let's close the case file. One. Read the deeds at the county clerk. Two. Search the appraisal district's mineral rolls. Three. Gather every stub, 1099, division order and offer letter. Four. Look up the lease and today's operator in the Railroad Commission's records. Five. Search unclaimed property for every name in the family. And if you need a firm answer on title, a landman or an oil and gas attorney can trace every conveyance and give you a written opinion.
Free tools
If you want a head start, the mineral interest finder and the Texas lease lookup at royaltyclerk.com are free. And if this helped, share it with the person in your family who keeps the shoebox. Thanks for watching.
Sample numbers, families and documents are illustrations, not real owners. General information, not legal, tax or investment advice.
Four places to look
Owning the land does not prove you own what is under it. Look in four places, in this order.
- The deeds. Ask the county clerk where the land is for the deeds into and out of the family (many counties have their grantor and grantee index online), and look for words like “save and except” or “reserves” the minerals. A Texas land description names the county and the original survey, often with an abstract number; the land search shows the land on a survey map with its wells and permits.
- The appraisal district’s mineral roll. Districts value producing oil and gas interests each year, and each owner on the roll is taxed on their share. Search your name, and the names of the people you inherited from, with the finder above.
- Papers from an operator. A royalty check stub, a 1099-MISC with royalties in box 2, a division order or a letter offering to buy or lease your minerals each names a lease and a company. The state’s records name the operator of each well today.
- Unclaimed property. Royalties that could not be paid go to the Texas Comptroller. Get the names to search for yourself and for relatives who owned minerals.
If the minerals came to you from a relative, the interest passed at the relative’s death to the heirs or the people named in the will. Operators pay once the records show it, through a probated will, or a recorded affidavit of heirship when there was no will, and may hold the payments in suspense until then. What to do, in order.
What the finder searches
Texas appraisal districts list every taxable mineral interest on a yearly roll, under the owner’s name. We load the rolls of the counties that publish them and match your name on the words in it, in any order, so John A. Smith and Smith, John A find the same account. Rolls often print a first name as its initial, so we also find SMITH J A for John A. Smith, and a typed initial (J Smith) finds the full names. When there are few exact hits we add close spellings, and when the full name is on no roll we count the owners who share the surname. Every one is marked.
What it does not search
- Deeds. The county clerk keeps them. The estate report gives the clerk search links for each county.
- Counties whose roll is not published. The results list them, with a link to each district’s own search page.
- Interests that were never taxed. A very small royalty can be missing from a roll.
A royalty owner who finds an account can save the name to My minerals, say which accounts are theirs and keep those leases in one place, with their share each month and alerts. They can also check the statements against the state record. A family that has lost someone can start an estate report. Money an operator could not deliver may be waiting with the state: search for unclaimed royalties.
Questions owners ask
Common questions
Short answers. Sources are at the end of the page.
How do I find out if I own mineral rights in Texas?
Start with the county appraisal district. Counties tax mineral interests, so an owner with royalty or mineral value normally has an account on the district's roll, under the owner's name. This tool searches the rolls of the counties that publish them. It does not search deeds, so an interest that was never put on the tax roll will not appear.
Does a name that is not found mean there is nothing?
No. The interest may be under a trust, an estate or a different spelling. It may be in a county whose roll is not public online, or on a roll we have not loaded. Texas has 254 counties and the results say which ones this search covered, and which appraisal districts to search yourself.
Is the name I type saved or shared?
The name is sent to our server once to run the search. It never goes in the web address, and no result is ever on a page a search engine can read. We do not share or sell it. We keep it privately for 90 days so we can fix search problems, then delete it.
Why do I need an account to see the names?
A county roll names a private person and prints a decimal and an appraised value next to it. Without an account the finder tells you what it found: a full-name match, the surname with a first initial, or other owners with the same surname, how many names, accounts and counties, and each owner by first initial and surname with the counties, marked when a full-name match is on a lease producing now. A free account shows each full name as the roll prints it, the lease names and what the accounts make in a year, and keeps the ones you say are yours in My minerals. Royalty Watch adds the decimals, appraised values and lease pages.
What is an account on the roll?
One line the appraisal district taxes: an owner's interest in one lease or unit. A royalty owner with interests in three leases usually has three accounts. The roll gives the owner's name, the lease as the operator reported it, the kind of interest and the value the district assigned.
The owner has died. What should I do?
Search the name as it was in life and any names the person used. Then consider the estate mineral report, which searches every name you give it, values each interest as of the date of death, splits it among the heirs and lists what has to be done and by when.
Does owning the land mean I own the minerals in Texas?
Not always. The minerals can be sold or kept by an earlier owner when the land changes hands, and the deeds say which happened. Read every deed back to the point where the minerals were last mentioned, and look for words like "save and except" or "reserves" the minerals.
Who owns the mineral rights under land in Texas?
The deeds and other papers recorded with the county clerk decide it, so a full answer is a title search there. Search the clerk's grantor and grantee index for the land and its owners. Two public shortcuts help. The appraisal district's mineral roll names who is taxed on a producing interest. The Railroad Commission's records name the operator of each well, which can tell you who pays the owners. For a firm answer, a landman or an oil and gas attorney traces every conveyance and writes a title opinion. That is what an operator relies on before it pays.
Is mineral ownership public in Texas?
Yes, through the county records: deeds, mineral deeds, leases and probate papers are recorded where the land is, and anyone can search them. Appraisal rolls of producing interests are public too.
Does the Railroad Commission know who owns the minerals?
No. The Railroad Commission keeps production, well and permit records, which help you find the lease and the operator. It has no authority over leasing or royalties and does not keep mineral ownership records. Those are in the county clerk's records.
Can the operator tell me who owns the minerals?
An operator keeps a list of owners and their decimal interests for each lease it pays, but it treats each owner's account as private. It will talk to an owner about that owner's own interest.
I only have an old royalty check. What does it tell me?
It names the lease, the county, the company that paid and your decimal interest. Look up the lease to see whether it still produces and which company operates it today, then ask that company's owner relations desk about your account.
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