§ 19.004.Citation

The notice provision, and who receives it depends on what kind of record is being replaced.

The clerk issues citation to, as applicable, or to the person's heirs or legal representatives: each grantor of property for a deed; an interested party for an instrument other than a deed; or a party adversely interested to the applicant at the time of the rendition for a judgment, order, or decree.

Each category identifies the person with the most to lose. The grantor is the one whose conveyance is being reconstructed; the adverse party is the one bound by the judgment being restored.

"At the time of the rendition" fixes the adverse party as of when the judgment was entered — which matters for old records, since interests change hands over the decades these applications often span.

The heirs-and-representatives clause is doing real work. A record lost long ago may have a grantor who died generations back. The chapter's companion provisions on unknown heirs, and citation by publication, supply the route when those people cannot be identified or found.

Subsection (b): the citation directs the person to appear at a designated term of the court to contest the applicant's right to record a substitute. Subsection (c): process is served in the manner provided by law for civil cases.