# heir.land - Heir Land | Heirship and curative for inherited minerals

> Landmen who research the record and family of a mineral owner who died without a will, or with one nobody probated, and draw who inherits.

## Overview & Scope
- **Canonical Domain**: https://heir.land/
- **Contact Email**: hello@heir.land
- **Phone**: (307) 263-8515
- **Privacy Policy**: https://heir.land/privacy.html
- **Terms of Use**: https://heir.land/terms.html
- **Access Policy**: Public browser calculators, checklists, and reference guides on this domain are free and ungated. Tract-specific courthouse deed, probate, unit, or division-order record verification is requested through the site inquiry form.

## AI & Structured Data Endpoints
- **Extended Markdown Corpus**: https://heir.land/llms-full.txt
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- **Site & Page Metadata**: https://heir.land/api/ai/site-info.json
- **Canonical FAQ Corpus (7 Q&As)**: https://heir.land/api/ai/faq.json
- **XML Sitemap**: https://heir.land/sitemap.xml

## Pages, Calculators & Guides
- [Affidavit of Heirship in Texas: What Chapter 203 Says | Heir Land](https://heir.land/affidavit-of-heirship-texas): What Texas Estates Code Chapter 203 says about a recorded affidavit of heirship: the five-year evidence rule, the statutory form, and where the statute stops.
- [Died Without a Will in Texas: Mineral Shares | Heir Land](https://heir.land/died-without-a-will-texas-minerals): How Texas Estates Code Chapter 201 divides separate and community mineral interests when an owner dies without a will, including the 1/3 spouse life estate.
- [Heir Land | Heirship and curative for inherited minerals](https://heir.land/): Landmen who research the record and family of a mineral owner who died without a will, or with one nobody probated, and draw who inherits.
- [Life Estates & the Open Mine Doctrine in Texas | Heir Land](https://heir.land/life-estate-and-open-mine-doctrine-texas): How a life estate in Texas mineral rights works: why both the life tenant and remaindermen must sign a new lease, who receives bonus and royalty.
- [Missing Heirs & Receiver Leases (CPRC 64.091) | Heir Land](https://heir.land/missing-heirs-and-receiver-leases-texas): How Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code section 64.091 lets a district court appoint a receiver to lease an unlocated or unknown heir's mineral interest.
- [Clearing Operator Suspense After Death in Texas | Heir Land](https://heir.land/operator-suspense-deceased-owner-texas): How to clear a deceased mineral owner's division order suspense hold in Texas: what operators ask for, when an affidavit of heirship works.
- [Out-of-State Probate for Texas Mineral Rights | Heir Land](https://heir.land/out-of-state-probate-texas-minerals): How Texas Estates Code Chapter 503 lets an out-of-state probated will pass title to Texas mineral rights by recording exemplified probate papers in the county.
- [Who Counts as an Heir in Texas | Heir Land](https://heir.land/who-counts-as-an-heir-texas): When someone dies in Texas without a will, Estates Code chapter 201 sets who counts as a child, how half brothers and sisters share.

## Key Questions Answered on This Domain
- **Why did the royalty checks stop?** (https://heir.land/)
- **Do we have to go to court?** (https://heir.land/)
- **Who signs the affidavit?** (https://heir.land/)
- **Does every heir have to agree?** (https://heir.land/)
- **What if there was a will?** (https://heir.land/)
- **Do we have to sell?** (https://heir.land/)
- **Are you lawyers?** (https://heir.land/)

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## Full Page Summaries & Sections

### Affidavit of Heirship in Texas: What Chapter 203 Says | Heir Land
- **URL**: https://heir.land/affidavit-of-heirship-texas
- **Headline**: What an affidavit of heirship is, and is not, in Texas
- **Summary**: What Texas Estates Code Chapter 203 says about a recorded affidavit of heirship: the five-year evidence rule, the statutory form, and where the statute stops.
- **Sections**: In one paragraph; What chapter 203 is; What a recorded statement can do; Where it stops; Example: a buyer and an omitted child; The statutory form, paragraph by paragraph; Recording; Next to a judgment declaring heirship
  - An affidavit of heirship is a sworn or acknowledged statement about a family. Texas has a short chapter about it, chapter 203 of the Estates Code, and its evidence rule is for an affidavit that has been recorded in the county deed records. Read closely, the chapter is about evidence. It does not say the affidavit passes title, and it says the affidavit does not affect the rights of an omitted heir or creditor as otherwise provided by law.
  - Last checked September 29, 2026. General information about Texas law, not legal advice and not an attorney’s opinion on title. We are independent landmen, not attorneys.
  - An affidavit of heirship is a statement of facts about a decedent’s family, sworn to or acknowledged before an officer who certifies it. Chapter 203 of the Estates Code, titled “Nonjudicial Evidence of Heirship,” calls it “an affidavit of facts concerning the identity of a decedent’s heirs” (§ 203.001(c), § 203.002). The phrase “affidavit of heirship” appears in § 201.053, not in chapter 203. Under § 203.001(a), a court “shall receive” a statement of facts about family history, genealogy, marital status or the identity of the heirs as prima facie evidence of the facts in it, in a proceeding to declare heirship or in a suit involving title to property, if two things are true: the statement is in an affidavit or other instrument acknowledged or sworn to before, and certified by, an authorized officer (or in a judgment of a court of record), and the affidavit or instrument has been of record for five years or more in the deed records of a county the section names. If there is an error in the statement, anyone interested in a proceeding in which the affidavit or instrument is offered in evidence may prove the true facts (§ 203.001(b)). The affidavit “does not affect the rights of an omitted heir or creditor of the decedent as otherwise provided by law” (§ 203.001(d)). Section 203.002 gives a form of 16 numbered paragraphs and says an affidavit “may be in substantially the following form.” A judgment in a proceeding to declare heirship is a different instrument with different effects (chapter 202). Chapter 203 does not say what an operator or a title company will accept.

### Died Without a Will in Texas: Mineral Shares | Heir Land
- **URL**: https://heir.land/died-without-a-will-texas-minerals
- **Headline**: Died without a will in Texas: separate vs. community mineral rights
- **Summary**: How Texas Estates Code Chapter 201 divides separate and community mineral interests when an owner dies without a will, including the 1/3 spouse life estate.
- **Sections**: In one paragraph; Why inherited minerals are almost always separate property; Separate real property under section 201.002; Community real property under section 201.003 and the 1993 date; When no spouse survives (§ 201.001); Sources; Draw the shares on the descent chart; Tell us about the interest
  - When a mineral owner dies intestate (without a will) owning oil, gas, or royalty interests in Texas, Texas law applies the descent rules of Estates Code chapter 201 even if the owner lived and died in another state. Because a mineral interest in place is real property in Texas, the shares depend first on whether the minerals were separate property or community property, and second on whether the decedent left a surviving spouse and children.
  - Last checked October 13, 2026. General information about Texas law, not legal advice and not an attorney’s opinion on title. We are independent landmen, not attorneys.
  - In Texas, severed mineral interests and royalty interests in place are real property, so Texas Estates Code chapter 201 governs how they pass when the owner dies without a will. Inherited minerals, minerals received by gift, and minerals acquired before marriage are separate real property (Tex. Fam. Code § 3.001). Under Estates Code § 201.002, if the decedent left a surviving spouse and children (or descendants of children), the children take all of the separate real property subject to a 1/3 life estate in the surviving spouse; if there are no children or descendants, the surviving spouse takes 1/2 of the separate real property outright and the decedent’s parents or siblings take the other 1/2 (or the spouse takes all if neither parent nor any sibling or sibling’s descendant survives). For community real property under § 201.003 (for deaths on or after September 1, 1993), the surviving spouse keeps their own 1/2 and inherits the decedent’s 1/2 if all surviving children and descendants of the decedent are also children or descendants of the surviving spouse; if any child or descendant of the decedent is from another relationship, the decedent’s 1/2 passes to the decedent’s children and descendants while the surviving spouse keeps their own 1/2.

### Heir Land | Heirship and curative for inherited minerals
- **URL**: https://heir.land/
- **Headline**: Someone died owning minerals. Who owns them now?
- **Summary**: Landmen who research the record and family of a mineral owner who died without a will, or with one nobody probated, and draw who inherits.
- **Sections**: Where it usually starts; Draw the descent; How we sort it out; Affidavit, court, or probate; Words you will run into; Questions families ask; Tell us about the interest; Contact
  - That is the question an oil company asks before it pays anyone. We are landmen. We research the record and the family, draw the descent chart from what we find, and prepare the affidavits of heirship for the people who knew the family to review and sign.
  - For families with an inherited mineral or royalty interest, and for landmen with an heirship gap in a title.
  - Nothing here is about selling. The point is getting the interest into the right names, so the heirs can lease it, get paid on it, or pass it on.

### Life Estates & the Open Mine Doctrine in Texas | Heir Land
- **URL**: https://heir.land/life-estate-and-open-mine-doctrine-texas
- **Headline**: Life estates and the open mine doctrine in Texas mineral rights
- **Summary**: How a life estate in Texas mineral rights works: why both the life tenant and remaindermen must sign a new lease, who receives bonus and royalty.
- **Sections**: In one paragraph; Two ways a mineral life estate is created; The general rule: both life tenant and remaindermen must lease; The open mine doctrine in Texas (Youngman v. Shular and Clyde v. Hamilton); What happens when the life tenant dies; Sources; Have a life estate on a division order or lease offer?; Tell us about the interest
  - Life estates in Texas minerals arise in two ways: by statute when an owner dies without a will leaving a surviving spouse and children (the surviving spouse’s 1/3 life estate in separate real property under Estates Code § 201.002(b)(2)), or by deed or will when a grantor or testator reserves or grants a life estate. Who can sign an oil and gas lease and who keeps the bonus and royalties turns on whether the land was already leased or producing when the life estate began.
  - Last checked October 13, 2026. General information about Texas law, not legal advice and not an attorney’s opinion on title. We are independent landmen, not attorneys.
  - Under Texas law, oil and gas in place are part of the corpus of the land, not ordinary annual income like pasture rent or crops. Under the general rule, neither a conventional life tenant nor a statutory 1/3 life tenant can execute a valid oil and gas lease alone, and neither can the remaindermen: both the life tenant and the remaindermen must join in (or ratify) a new lease unless the deed or will expressly gave the life tenant executive leasing power. When they join in a new lease with no contrary agreement, delay rentals belong to the life tenant as income, while lease bonus and production royalties are corpus that belong to the remaindermen at the end of the life estate, with the life tenant entitled only to the interest earned on that sum during the life tenant’s lifetime. The exception is the Texas open mine doctrine: if a valid oil and gas lease (or producing well) was already in effect when the life estate was created (at the decedent’s death or the effective date of the life-estate deed), the mine is treated as `"open"` for that lease, and the life tenant receives the full royalties and bonus attributable to the life estate share for as long as that lease continues.

### Missing Heirs & Receiver Leases (CPRC 64.091) | Heir Land
- **URL**: https://heir.land/missing-heirs-and-receiver-leases-texas
- **Headline**: Missing heirs and mineral receiver leases in Texas (CPRC § 64.091)
- **Summary**: How Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code section 64.091 lets a district court appoint a receiver to lease an unlocated or unknown heir's mineral interest.
- **Sections**: In one paragraph; Can the rest of the family lease if one cousin cannot be found?; How a mineral receivership works under CPRC section 64.091; What "diligent search" requires in the record and genealogical files; How heirs claim bonus and royalties from the court registry; Sources; Need to locate a missing branch or trace a receiver lease?; Tell us about the interest
  - Guide · Texas · mineral receiverships
  - When part of a mineral tract is owned by a person whose whereabouts are unknown, or by the unknown heirs of someone who died decades ago, two problems arise: the known family members who have already leased want the tract developed, and the heirs of the missing owner may later discover that a court-appointed receiver leased their interest and deposited their bonus and royalties into the county court registry.
  - Last checked October 13, 2026. General information about Texas law, not legal advice and not an attorney’s opinion on title. We are independent landmen, not attorneys.

### Clearing Operator Suspense After Death in Texas | Heir Land
- **URL**: https://heir.land/operator-suspense-deceased-owner-texas
- **Headline**: Operator suspense after an owner dies in Texas: how to clear the hold
- **Summary**: How to clear a deceased mineral owner's division order suspense hold in Texas: what operators ask for, when an affidavit of heirship works.
- **Sections**: In one paragraph; Why a death certificate or unrecorded will is not enough; Which recorded document fits each estate scenario; What goes into an operator owner-relations transfer packet; When two or more generations died without filings; Sources; Need a transfer packet built for your family?; Tell us about the interest
  - Guide · Texas · division order suspense
  - When a royalty owner dies, the operator places the owner’s decimal in suspense until the county deed records in the county where the well is located show who inherited the interest. Sending a death certificate or an unrecorded copy of a will to the operator’s mailroom is rarely enough to release the funds.
  - Last checked October 13, 2026. General information about Texas law and operator practice, not legal advice and not an attorney’s opinion on title. We are independent landmen, not attorneys.

### Out-of-State Probate for Texas Mineral Rights | Heir Land
- **URL**: https://heir.land/out-of-state-probate-texas-minerals
- **Headline**: Out-of-state probate and Texas mineral rights: Chapter 503 recording
- **Summary**: How Texas Estates Code Chapter 503 lets an out-of-state probated will pass title to Texas mineral rights by recording exemplified probate papers in the county.
- **Sections**: In one paragraph; Why home-state probate alone leaves Texas royalties in suspense; Recording a foreign will in the deed records (Chapter 503); What an exemplified (three-way) probate packet contains; When ancillary probate in a Texas court (Chapter 501) is needed instead; Sources; Need help pulling and recording out-of-state probate records?; Tell us about the interest
  - When a mineral owner dies in California, Colorado, Florida, or another state and their will is probated in that home state, the home-state probate court order does not automatically show up in the Texas county where the minerals lie. Fortunately, Texas law usually does not require opening a second court case in Texas just to pass title to the minerals under a probated foreign will.
  - Last checked October 13, 2026. General information about Texas law, not legal advice and not an attorney’s opinion on title. We are independent landmen, not attorneys.
  - Under Texas Estates Code chapter 503 (“Recording of Foreign Testamentary Instrument”), a will that has been admitted to probate in another United States state, territory, or foreign nation may be filed and recorded directly in the deed records of the Texas county where the real property (including mineral and royalty interests) is located, without opening an ancillary court proceeding in Texas (§ 503.001). The filing requires a copy of the foreign will and the order or judgment admitting it to probate in the home jurisdiction, attested by the court clerk and accompanied by the three-part certificate (often called an exemplified or triple-seal packet) described in § 501.002(c). Once filed and recorded in the Texas county deed records, the foreign will functions as a muniment of title (§ 503.051) and gives constructive notice in that county (§ 503.052).

### Who Counts as an Heir in Texas | Heir Land
- **URL**: https://heir.land/who-counts-as-an-heir-texas
- **Headline**: Who counts as an heir in Texas when there is no will
- **Summary**: When someone dies in Texas without a will, Estates Code chapter 201 sets who counts as a child, how half brothers and sisters share.
- **Sections**: In one paragraph; What “heir” means, and when the estate passes; Who counts as a child; Born before, or in gestation at, the death; How the shares fall when the tree has gaps; Where a court comes in; Side by side; Sources
  - The family tree an operator or an examiner asks for is not always a tidy one. Someone was adopted. A half brother lives two states away. Texas answers a good many of these questions in chapter 201 of the Estates Code, and a few of the answers turn on facts a court has to decide.
  - Last checked September 29, 2026. General information about Texas law, not legal advice and not an attorney’s opinion on title. We are independent landmen, not attorneys.
  - In Texas an heir is a person entitled under the statutes of descent and distribution to a part of the estate of someone who dies without a will, and the term includes a surviving spouse (Est. Code § 22.015). Chapter 201 says who that is. If the person who died does not leave a spouse, the estate goes to the children and the children’s descendants (§ 201.001(b)). If no child or child’s descendant survives, it goes to the father and mother in equal portions (§ 201.001(c)). If only the father or the mother survives, the estate is divided into two equal portions, one for the surviving parent and one for the person’s siblings and the siblings’ descendants, or it goes entirely to the surviving parent if there is no sibling and no sibling’s descendant (§ 201.001(d)). If neither parent survives, the entire estate goes to the siblings and the siblings’ descendants (§ 201.001(e)). If none of those relatives survive, the estate is divided into two moieties, one for the paternal kindred and one for the maternal kindred, each passing in the order set out in § 201.001(g) and (h) (§ 201.001(f)). One place a family gets stuck is the word child. A child is the child of the child’s biological or adopted mother, with an exception for a gestational agreement validated under the Family Code (§ 201.051(a)). A child is the child of the child’s biological father when one of the four conditions in § 201.052(a) is met, with a separate rule for gestational agreements in § 201.052(a-1). A person who claims to be a biological child of the decedent and is not otherwise presumed to be a child of the decedent can petition the probate court (§ 201.052(c)). An adopted child is a child, and so is a child a court considers equitably adopted (§§ 22.004, 201.054). A half brother or sister takes half as much as a whole-blood one when both are among the collateral kindred (§ 201.057). A person takes only if born before, or in gestation at, the time of death and surviving for at least 120 hours, so a person born after the death takes only if in gestation at the time of death (§ 201.056). This page covers those questions for Texas. It does not work out a spouse’s share; the descent chart on the home page does that.

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## Complete FAQ Reference

### Q: Why did the royalty checks stop?
A: When the owner on the division order dies, the operator stops paying that interest and holds the money in suspense until someone shows it who owns the interest now. Texas lets an operator withhold payment while there is reasonable doubt about title (Tex. Nat. Res. Code § 91.402(b)). The money keeps accruing while the well produces. If it sits long enough it can be turned over to the state as unclaimed property, and then it is claimed from the state instead.
Source: https://heir.land/

### Q: Do we have to go to court?
A: Not always. In Texas a recorded affidavit of heirship can be enough for an operator to pay the heirs, but operators set their own rules, so ask yours. A court proceeding makes sense when the facts are disputed, the interest is large, or a title examiner asks for one. That part is an attorney’s job; we do the research that goes into it.
Source: https://heir.land/

### Q: Who signs the affidavit?
A: Someone who knew the person who died, and the family, well enough to swear to the marriages, children and deaths. Operators and examiners prefer a witness who inherits nothing, and often want a second one. Heirs often sign as well, alongside the disinterested witness.
Source: https://heir.land/

### Q: Does every heir have to agree?
A: An heir cannot sign for another unless holding a power of attorney or appointed by a court. Each owns an undivided share and signs their own lease and their own division order. A holdout does not always stop the others; ask the operator what it will pay on.
Source: https://heir.land/

### Q: What if there was a will?
A: Then the will controls, not the descent statute, and the chart above does not apply. A will has to be probated to pass title, and in Texas that generally has to happen within four years of the death. Talk to a probate attorney; we can run the record and family research alongside.
Source: https://heir.land/

### Q: Do we have to sell?
A: No. Getting the interest into the heirs’ names is the whole job here, and what you do with it afterward is your business.
Source: https://heir.land/

### Q: Are you lawyers?
A: No. We are landmen. We research records and families and prepare the affidavit forms and packets operators use, for the family and their witnesses to review and sign. We do not give legal opinions or represent anyone in court. When a court proceeding is the right route, your attorney runs it.
Source: https://heir.land/