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Tex. Civil Practice and Remedies Code § 17.005

This is the official text of Tex. Civil Practice and Remedies Code § 17.005, part of Texas’s Civil Practice and Remedies Code — sets procedural rules and available remedies for civil lawsuits.

Not legal advice. This page reproduces the official text of a government statute for reference only. Laws change, and how a statute applies depends on your specific facts. For advice about your situation, consult a licensed attorney in your state.

§ 17.005. SUIT AGAINST UNKNOWN LANDOWNER.

Official statutory text

(a) A person may sue the unknown owner or claimant of an interest in land if:

(1) the person bringing suit claims ownership of an interest in the land or has a claim or cause of action related to the land against the unknown owner or claimant; and

(2) the unknown owner or claimant:

(A) takes or holds the beneficial interest under a conveyance, lease, or written contract that conveyed an interest in the land to a trustee without disclosing the name of the owner of the beneficial interest; or

(B) takes or holds the interest of a dissolved association, joint-stock company, partnership, or other organization under an instrument that did not disclose his name, and the organization had acquired the interest under a conveyance, lease, or written contract that conveyed the interest to the organization in its name without disclosing the names of the members, shareholders, partners, or other persons owning an interest in the organization.

(b) A person may not sue the unknown stockholders of a corporation under this section, but if the plaintiff did not know that the organization was incorporated and the corporate character of the organization was not disclosed in the instrument under which title was acquired, the court retains jurisdiction over the unknown owners even if the organization was in fact incorporated.

Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site

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About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the Open US Law dataset (Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine (Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.