Annual report [Section 13 and 15(d), not S-K Item 405]

Pension and Other Postretirement Benefits

v3.25.4
Pension and Other Postretirement Benefits
 12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2025
Share-Based Payment Arrangement [Abstract]  
Pension and Other Postretirement Benefits Pension and Other Postretirement Benefits
 
Defined Contribution Plan

TPL has a defined contribution plan available to all eligible employees. Qualifying participants may receive a matching contribution based on the amount participants contribute to the plan up to 6% of their qualifying compensation. TPL contributed approximately $1.1 million, $0.9 million, and $0.8 million to the defined contribution plan for the years ended December 31, 2025, 2024, and 2023, respectively. Additionally, for the 2025 plan year, qualified participants may receive a discretionary employer non-elective contribution of 6% of compensation, subject to the IRS annual compensation limitation of $350,000. TPL accrued $1.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2025.

Defined Benefit Pension Plan

The Restated Texas Pacific Land Corporation Employees’ Pension Plan (the “Pension Plan”) was frozen for benefit accruals and closed to new participants effective as of December 31, 2024, and on December 31, 2025, the Pension Plan was terminated.
 
Prior to the freezing of the Pension Plan, the Pension Plan was a noncontributory defined benefit pension plan qualified under Section 401 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), and was available to all eligible employees who had completed one year of continuous service with TPL during which they completed at least 1,000 hours of service. The Pension Plan provided for a normal retirement benefit at age 65. Contributions to the Pension Plan reflect benefits accrued with respect to participants’ services to date, as well as the amount actuarially determined to pay lifetime benefits to participants and their beneficiaries upon retirement.
 
During 2024, the Company irrevocably transferred $3.4 million of the Pension Plan’s defined benefit obligations and related plan assets to a third-party insurance company in an annuity buyout. The transaction resulted in no changes to the benefits to be received by the retired and deferred vested participants. The Company recognized a realized non-cash settlement gain on the annuity buyout of $0.7 million. The gain is included in other income (expense) on the consolidated statement of income.
Upon the freezing of the Pension Plan effective December 31, 2024, a non-cash curtailment gain of $3.9 million was recognized for the year ended December 31, 2024. The gain is included in other income (expense) on the consolidated statement of income.

The following table sets forth the Pension Plan’s changes in benefit obligation, changes in fair value of assets, and funded status as of December 31, 2025 and 2024 using a measurement date of December 31 (in thousands):

  December 31, 2025 December 31, 2024
Change in projected benefits obligation:
Projected benefit obligation at beginning of year
 $ 3,567  $ 10,553 
Curtailment gain —  (3,864)
Annuity buyout settlement —  (3,439)
Service cost
 —  1,848 
Interest cost
 206  503 
Actuarial gain (loss) 164  (1,812)
Benefits paid
 (7) (222)
 Projected benefit obligation at end of year
 $ 3,930  $ 3,567 
Change in Pension Plan assets:
Fair value of Pension Plan assets at beginning of year $ 12,611  $ 14,201 
Annuity buyout settlement —  (3,439)
Actual return on Pension Plan assets 1,961  2,071 
Contributions by employer
 —  — 
Benefits paid
 (7) (222)
Fair value of Pension Plan assets at end of year 14,565  12,611 
Funded status at end of year $ 10,635  $ 9,044 
 
The projected Pension Plan benefit obligation as of December 31, 2025, was impacted by changes in assumptions used as of that date compared to assumptions used as of December 31, 2024. As the Pension Plan has been terminated, liquidation basis termination assumptions were used in the calculation as of December 31, 2025. These changes included a decrease in the discount rate from 5.75% as of December 31, 2024 to 5.47% as of December 31, 2025 due to changes in methodology to align with the assumptions that will be used to settle benefit obligations upon final distribution to participants and other assumptions related to anticipated participant elections of annuity versus lump sum distribution at final settlement. The effect of these assumption changes was an increase in the projected benefit obligation of approximately $0.1 million.

Amounts recognized on the consolidated balance sheets as of December 31, 2025 and 2024 consisted of (in thousands):
  December 31, 2025 December 31, 2024
Assets $ 10,635  $ 9,044 
Liabilities —  — 
  $ 10,635  $ 9,044 
The Pension Plan asset is included in other assets on the consolidated balance sheets.

Amounts recognized in accumulated other comprehensive income on the consolidated balance sheets consisted of the following as of December 31, 2025 and 2024 (in thousands):
  December 31, 2025 December 31, 2024
Net actuarial gain $ 5,090  $ 4,371 
Amounts recognized in accumulated other comprehensive income, before taxes 5,090  4,371 
Income tax expense (1,069) (918)
Amounts recognized in accumulated other comprehensive income, after taxes $ 4,021  $ 3,453 
 
Net periodic pension (benefit) cost for the years ended December 31, 2025, 2024, and 2023 included the following components (in thousands):
Years Ended December 31,
  2025 2024 2023
Components of net periodic (benefit) cost:
Curtailment gain $ —  $ (3,864) $ — 
Realized gain on settlement —  (752) — 
Service cost —  1,848  1,537 
Interest cost 206  503  423 
Expected return on Pension Plan assets (882) (964) (807)
Recognized actuarial (gain) loss (197) (114) (130)
Net periodic pension (benefit) cost $ (873) $ (3,343) $ 1,023 
 
Service cost, a component of net periodic pension (benefit) cost, is reflected in our consolidated statements of income and total comprehensive income within salaries and related employee expenses. The other components of net periodic pension (benefit) cost are included in other income, net on the consolidated statements of income and total comprehensive income. As the Pension Plan was frozen for benefit accruals and closed to new participants effective as of December 31, 2024, there was no service cost for the year ended December 31, 2025.

Other changes in Pension Plan assets and benefit obligations recognized in other comprehensive (income) loss for the years ended December 31, 2025, 2024, and 2023 were as follows (in thousands):
Years Ended December 31,
  2025 2024 2023
Net actuarial (gain) loss $ (915) $ (2,919) $ 739 
Recognized actuarial gain (loss) 197  866  130 
Total recognized in other comprehensive (income) loss, before taxes $ (718) $ (2,053) $ 869 
Total recognized in net benefit cost and other comprehensive (income) loss, before taxes $ (1,591) $ (5,396) $ 1,892 
 
TPL reclassified $0.9 million (net of income tax benefit of $0.2 million) out of accumulated other comprehensive loss for net periodic pension (benefit) cost to other income, net for the year ended December 31, 2025, $0.6 million (net of income tax benefit of $0.1 million) for the year ended December 31, 2024 and $0.5 million (net of income tax benefit of $0.1 million) for the year ended December 31, 2023.
The following table summarizes the projected benefit obligation in excess of Pension Plan assets and Pension Plan assets in excess of accumulated benefit obligation as of December 31, 2025 and 2024 (in thousands):

  December 31, 2025 December 31, 2024
Projected benefit obligation in excess of Pension Plan assets:
Projected benefit obligation
 $ 3,930  $ 3,567 
Fair value of Pension Plan assets $ 14,565  $ 12,611 
Plan assets in excess of accumulated benefit obligation:
Accumulated benefit obligation
 $ 3,930  $ 3,567 
Fair value of Pension Plan assets $ 14,565  $ 12,611 
 
The following are weighted-average assumptions used to determine benefit obligations and costs as of December 31, 2025, 2024, and 2023:
Years Ended December 31,
  2025 2024 2023
Weighted average assumptions used to determine benefit obligations as of December 31:
Discount rate
 5.47  % 5.75  % 5.00  %
Rate of compensation increase
N/A (1)
N/A (1)
7.29  %
Weighted average assumptions used to determine benefit costs for the years ended December 31:
Discount rate
 5.75  % 5.00  % 5.25  %
Expected return on Pension Plan assets 7.00  % 7.00  % 7.00  %
Rate of compensation increase
N/A (1)
7.29  % 7.29  %
(1)As the Pension Plan was frozen effective December 31, 2024, this assumption is not applicable in the calculation of the benefit obligations as of December 31, 2025 and 2024.
 
The expected return on Pension Plan assets assumption of 7.0% was selected by TPL based on historical real rates of return for the current asset mix and an assumption with respect to future inflation. The rate was determined based on a long-term allocation of about two-thirds short-term cash equivalent securities and one-third fixed income; historical real rates of return of about and 2.5% and 8.5% for cash equivalent securities and fixed income, respectively; and assuming a long-term inflation rate of 2.5%.
 
The Pension Plan has a formal investment policy statement, which was changed at the end of 2025 due to the termination of the Pension Plan and pending distribution of assets. The Pension Plan’s investment objective is to minimize investment rate risk on the assets needed to satisfy the Pension Plan’s benefit obligations through investment in fixed income assets with durations matching the duration of the benefit obligations and to protect principal on the remaining assets through investment in cash equivalent securities. This objective emphasizes funded status protection rather than actual rate of return due to the short time horizon until assets are expected to be distributed. Diversification is achieved through investment in various classes of taxable bonds and U.S. Treasury bonds of varying durations. The asset allocation will be reviewed regularly with respect to the target allocations and rebalancing adjustments and/or target allocation changes will be made as appropriate. Our current funding policy is to maintain the Pension Plan’s fully funded status on an ERISA minimum funding basis.
The fair values of the Pension Plan assets (all considered Level 1 assets in the fair value hierarchy) are classified by major asset category as of December 31, 2025 and 2024, were as follows (in thousands):

December 31, 2025 December 31, 2024
Cash and cash equivalents — money markets $ 2,579  $ 574 
Equities —  8,600 
Equity funds 7,282  1,049 
Fixed income funds —  — 
Taxable bonds 4,704  2,388 
Total $ 14,565  $ 12,611 

While no funding requirements are expected for 2026, management intends to fund the Pension Plan for 2026 to the extent of any minimum amount required under ERISA.
 
The following benefit payments and final distributions are expected to be paid for the following periods (in thousands):
 
Year ending December 31, Amount
2026 $ 83 
2027 4,281 
2028 — 
2029 — 
2030 — 
2031 to 2035 —