§ 17.004.Suit Against Unknown Heirs or Unknown Stockholders of Defunct Corporation

A provision for the case where the defendants exist but nobody knows their names.

A person with a claim against property that has accrued to or been granted to the unknown heirs of a deceased individual or the unknown stockholders of a defunct corporation may sue those heirs or stockholders, or their heirs or representatives.

The pleading requirement is specific: the action must describe the defendants as the heirs of the named deceased individual or the unknown stockholders of the named corporation. The named person or company anchors the description — it is not enough to sue "unknown heirs" at large.

The problem is a real one in Texas land records. A conveyance made a century ago to a person long dead, or to a corporation dissolved without winding up its affairs, leaves an interest owned by people who may not know it exists. Without a way to sue them collectively, the interest could never be resolved.

Service on such defendants is by publication, and the appointment of an attorney ad litem to represent absent unknown parties is the ordinary companion step.