§ 64.093.Receiver for Royalty Interests Owned by Nonresident or Absentee

The royalty counterpart, and the difference in the receiver’s powers is the point.

A royalty interest is defined here as one entitled to share in production that is not required to execute a lease to give the mineral owner the power to develop.

That definition explains why a separate section is needed. A royalty owner does not sign the lease, so a receiver for a royalty interest has nothing to lease.

The receiver’s powers are therefore to ratify rather than to grant: ratify a mineral lease executed by an undivided mineral interest owner, ratify a pooling agreement, or enter a unitization agreement authorized by the Railroad Commission.

Ratification matters because of pooling. A royalty owner who has not ratified a pooled unit may claim production only from wells on their own tract, which can defeat a unit that would otherwise be developed.

The conditions match the mineral interest section exactly. The defendant must be of unknown residence or identity, or a nonresident, who has not paid or rendered taxes on the interest for five years. The plaintiff must prove a diligent but unsuccessful effort to locate them and substantial damage or injury without the appointment.

Notice by publication, appointment of the county judge or a county resident, and no bond from applicant or receiver are all carried across.

Subsection (h) contains an unusually candid legislative aside. Consideration must be paid to the clerk before execution — but the section acknowledges that ratifications, pooling and unitization agreements are typically entered into in consideration of future benefits, so an initial monetary consideration is not typically paid.

Later payments under the lease or unit are impounded in the court’s registry for the absent owner, which is where the value accrues.

The receivership continues until the owner or their successors appear to claim the interest.