Texas intestate succession

An affidavit of heirship in Texas is a sworn statement that establishes who inherits when someone dies without a will, and for mineral owners it is often the document that clears title so an operator will pay. This case study follows one such matter: a four-county Texas mineral estate, frozen for years after an out-of-state death, that a properly built affidavit of heirship finally cleared. Used carelessly, the same document fails the moment an operator’s title department reviews it, and the family waits even longer for their money. The case below shows both sides, and why the paperwork is the easy part. Before founding this firm, Attorney Daughtrey spent nearly a decade inside oil companies as a licensed attorney and landman, reviewing exactly this kind of heirship chain to decide whether an operator could rely on it. That operator-side view is what shaped the affidavits described here. Our mineral rights