Mineral rights in Texas

Texas title insurance is regulated by the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI). Every standard owner’s policy issued in Texas uses the state-promulgated T-1 Owner’s Policy form — title companies do not draft their own. Under TDI Procedural Rule P-5.1 and the standard Schedule B exceptions, mineral interests already severed of record are excluded from coverage.^[1]

Standard Schedule B mineral exception language reads, in substance: “All leases, grants, exceptions or reservations of coal, lignite, oil, gas and other minerals, together with all rights, privileges, and immunities relating thereto, appearing in the Public Records whether listed in Schedule B or not.”^[2] In practical terms, if a prior owner severed and reserved the minerals — even decades ago — the title policy does not insure the new surface owner against that severance.

Texas landowners can purchase two optional TDI-promulgated endorsements:

• T-19.2 (Minerals and Surface Damage Endorsement) — for residential or commercial tracts of 1 acre or less. Premium set at $50 for the owner’s policy.^[3]
• T-19.3 (Minerals and Surface Damage Endorsement) — for tracts larger than 1 acre.^[4]

Both endorsements insure against physical damage to permanent buildings caused by future surface use for mineral extraction. Neither endorsement insures the mineral estate itself, and neither covers subsidence.^[3][4]A Texas owner’s policy never “gives the minerals back” — it only insures the surface improvements against specified harms.

This is a notable contrast to states like California, where the standard CLTA/ALTA policy does not promulgate equivalent state-form mineral endorsements, and where mineral severance is far less common in residential title histories. In Texas, the assumption built into the policy is that minerals may already be severed; the burden is on the landowner to investigate.

Texas is a “mineral estate dominant” jurisdiction. The mineral owner has an implied right to use as much of the surface as is reasonably necessary to develop the minerals — but that right is not unlimited. The Accommodation Doctrine, established in Getty Oil Co. v. Jones, 470 S.W.2d 618 (Tex. 1971), requires the mineral lessee to accommodate existing surface uses when reasonable industry-standard alternatives exist.^[5]

Community property and joinder. Texas is a community-property state. For homestead property, both spouses must sign any conveyance, lease, or encumbrance — including a mineral lease — regardless of which spouse holds title. A homestead deed signed by only one spouse is invalid under Texas Family Code Chapter 5.^[6]

Severance in the deed record. Mineral severances typically appear as a reservation clause in a warranty deed: “Grantor reserves unto Grantor, Grantor’s heirs and assigns, all of the oil, gas and other minerals in, on and under the above-described property.” Separate mineral deeds and royalty deeds are also common — note these are distinct instruments. A mineral deed conveys the executive right; a royalty deed conveys only a share of production proceeds.

The Duhig Rule. Under Duhig v. Peavy-Moore Lumber Co., 135 Tex. 503 (1940), if a grantor reserves a mineral interest in a deed but does not own enough minerals to satisfy both the conveyance and the reservation, the courts give priority to the grantee — the reservation fails to the extent needed to make the grantee whole.^[7] This trips up landowners who buy land believing they reserved minerals when an earlier severance already removed part of the estate.

Royalty deductions. In Heritage Resources, Inc. v. NationsBank, 939 S.W.2d 118 (Tex. 1996), the Texas Supreme Court held that “market value at the well” royalty clauses permit lessees to deduct post-production costs (transportation, treating, taxes) from the sales price before calculating royalty.^[8] The Texas Supreme Court has revisited and narrowed Heritage in later cases (e.g., Hyder, 2015), but the baseline rule still drives most Texas royalty calculations.

• State Bar of Texas — Lawyer Referral & Information Service — statewide referral; $20 for an initial 30-minute consult. (800) 252-9690.^[9]
• State Bar of Texas — Oil, Gas & Energy Resources Law Section — practice-section directory and CLE resources.^[10]
• Texas Board of Legal Specialization — Oil, Gas & Mineral Law — search board-certified specialists.^[11]
• Texas Land Title Association (TLTA) — industry trade association. Note: TLTA is B2B, so for consumer-facing title-policy questions the Texas Department of Insurance title division is the better primary source.^[12]
• Texas A&M AgriLife — Texas Real Estate Research Center — landowner-facing research on surface/mineral issues.^[5]
• County clerk online deed search — coverage varies by county. Reeves County has full online land records via publicsearch.us. Karnes County offers QuickLinks records 1854–2003.^[13] La Salle and Live Oak counties currently route most public-record searches through third-party aggregators like TexasFile and CourthouseDirect rather than first-party portals.^[14]

This page is information, not legal advice. Geolocity surfaces public-record signal and curated starting points. Any actionable interpretation of a Texas mineral severance, reservation, or royalty calculation requires a Texas-licensed attorney. Confirm everything material with a licensed title professional before relying on it.