Division Order
A statement from the operator confirming your decimal interest in a well before royalty payments begin. It confirms arithmetic; it does not change your lease.
Why it matters when you sell
For a seller, division orders are the cleanest evidence of what you own and what it pays. A complete set covering every well, with decimals that reconcile to your acreage, shortens diligence considerably and removes the most common reason a closing timeline slips.
Example
A seller brings twelve months of cheque stubs and the matching division orders for four wells. The buyer reconciles decimals, confirms the operator and unit for each, and moves to a purchase agreement without needing to request records from the operators. The same position without paperwork typically adds several weeks while the buyer assembles it independently.
How this varies across the states we serve
Several of the states we work in set out by statute what a division order may contain and how quickly royalty must be paid once production begins, and Texas prescribes a form. The practical consequence is the same across all of them: you are entitled to your royalty because you own the interest, not because you signed the paper. Declining to sign can slow payment, but it does not forfeit anything, and no division order changes the lease it sits under.
What to have in hand
Gather your division orders alongside a year of cheque stubs before you ask for offers. It is the single most useful piece of preparation available to a mineral seller.
Related terms
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