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Transcript of “Is your royalty check right?”
Is your royalty check right?
Once a month, a royalty check arrives in the mail. You cash it. You trust it. But is it right? So we do what a careful bookkeeper would do. We read every line, with a red pen. The decimal. The barrels of oil. The price you were paid. The fees taken out. This is a real lease in Midland County, Texas, with a sample owner.
Your lease in the state's own records
Then we look up your lease in the state's own records. Every Texas lease reports its oil sales to the state each month. Multiply that by your share, and you know what you should have been paid. For February, the state says this owner's share was 12.93 barrels. The stub says 11.89.
Four findings
That's eight percent short, four months in a row. About $285. Next, the price. For three months, the price paid fell far behind the West Texas benchmark. That's $766. Then the big one. January 2025 was never paid at all. The state shows 28,175 barrels sold, right when the operator changed. That's about $2,277. And one worth asking about. The gas now goes to a pipeline, but every statement still takes a processing fee. That's $552, worth a question.
Adding it up
Add it up, and this owner is likely owed $3,328. Plus $579 worth asking about. A sample owner, on a real lease.
What you get, and how to start
You get every finding in plain English, with the numbers from both sides. A letter you can send, with the exact question to ask. A PDF report to keep. And when everything is right, we tell you that too. Try your first check free. Send us your stub at royaltyclerk.com.
The owner in this video is a sample owner on a real lease. The statements are made up for this demo; the state records are real.
2 minutes
Is your royalty check right?
Watch a royalty check get read line by line and compared with Texas Railroad Commission records: the decimal, the barrels of oil, the price you were paid and the fees taken out. The sample owner is likely owed $3,328, with $579 more worth asking about.
- Is your royalty check right?
- Your lease in the state's own records
- Four findings
- Adding it up
- What you get, and how to start
The guides, on video
Each one is three to five minutes and ends on the free tool that matches it. The written guide has the same facts, with sources.
5 minutes
How to read a royalty check stub
Every box on the stub, the arithmetic behind each line, and five checks you can run in ten minutes.
4 minutes
What does your decimal interest mean?
Where the long number on your stub comes from, why a small error is not small, and how to check yours in a minute.
4 minutes
Post-production deductions, explained
What gathering, compression and processing deductions are, when your lease lets them reach you, and when to ask.
4 minutes
Why is my royalty check lower?
Four things move a royalty check. How to tell which one moved yours, and what to ask the payor for.
5 minutes
Division orders in Texas
What a Texas division order may contain, what you can refuse, and what to check before you sign.
4 minutes
Inherited mineral rights in Texas
What to do first when a mineral owner dies, whom to tell, and which clocks are running.
4 minutes
Royalty checks stopped
Seven common reasons a royalty check stops, what Texas law lets a payor hold, and the one question to ask.
4 minutes
Royalty income and your 1099
Why the royalties on your 1099 are more than the checks you cashed, and how to reconcile them in ten minutes.
Under a minute
The short version of each guide, made for a phone.
Is your royalty check right? (30 seconds)
How to read your royalty stub (53 seconds)
Is your decimal interest right? (52 seconds)
Deductions on your gas royalty (52 seconds)
Why is my royalty check lower? (55 seconds)
Division orders in Texas (57 seconds)
Inherited mineral rights in Texas (52 seconds)
Royalty checks stopped (53 seconds)
Royalty income and your 1099 (57 seconds)
A Texas county in 60 seconds
Production, drilling permits, who operates the leases and the price behind your check, for one producing county, from the Railroad Commission’s records.
Your first check is free.