Property Division

Property division in Texas is governed by specific laws. Except in rare cases, all marital property is divided during a divorce, and the division is not necessarily equal.

There are many factors that a judge may consider when dividing marital property, including the age of the parties, their earning capacity, and who was at fault for the breakdown of the marriage. Proving that property is separate property, which is not subject to division, can be complex, and tracing the ownership of separate property can be difficult.

Additionally, valuing property is not always easy. Disputes over property division can arise easily and escalate quickly during a divorce.

If you are facing a divorce that involves significant property and assets, you need an experienced property division lawyer who knows how to get the results you need in family court. The Law Offices of Richard C. McConathy have experienced property division lawyers in Fort Worth, Arlington, Grapevine, Keller, Southlake, and other cities in Tarrant County, TX.

Here are some tips for dealing with property division during a divorce:

Be honest about your assets and debts.
Be prepared to negotiate.
Be willing to compromise.
If you cannot reach an agreement with your spouse, be prepared to go to court.

If you are considering divorce, it is important to consult with an experienced family law attorney. An attorney can help you understand your rights and options and can represent you in court if necessary

Defining Separate Property

In Texas divorces, separate property is not generally divided between the spouses. In fact, it is usually improper for the court to award a spouse’s separate property to the other spouse.

In other words, a just and right division of property requires that separate property be awarded to the spouse who owns it. Of course, in many divorces, neither spouse owns separate property.

However, no proper division of property can be made in court without accounting for separate property if it exists. The Law Offices of Richard C. McConathy can help ensure that the divorce court awards its clients their rightful property.

The Texas Family Code narrowly defines separate property. There are only four ways to create separate property:

Property owned by a party before the marriage is considered separate property.
Property inherited by a spouse during the marriage is considered separate property.
Gifts to a spouse during the marriage are considered separate property.
Judgments for pain and suffering resulting from a personal injury suit are considered the injured spouse’s separate property.

If you are facing a divorce and have separate property, it is important to consult with an experienced family law attorney. An attorney can help you understand your rights and options and can represent you in court if necessary.

Here are some additional tips for protecting your separate property during a divorce:

Keep good records of your separate property. This includes things like purchase receipts, bank statements, and investment account statements.
Be careful about how you mix your separate property with community property. For example, if you deposit a gift from your parents into a joint bank account with your spouse, it may become community property.
If you are concerned about your spouse claiming your separate property as community property, you may want to consider a prenuptial agreement.

A prenuptial agreement is a contract that you and your spouse sign before marriage that outlines how your property will be divided in the event of a divorce. A prenuptial agreement can help to protect your separate property and ensure that it is distributed to you in the event of a divorce.

Property Owned Before a Marriage

Separate property is generally easy to account for in a divorce. For example, if a couple gets married and each owns a car, those cars would remain the separate property of the respective spouses after the marriage. Similarly, if one or both spouses own a home or other real estate when they enter a second marriage, that property would also remain their separate property.

The Law Offices of Richard C. McConathy believe that a divorce decree should properly assign any property owned before the marriage. However, many people come to them after their divorce decree has been finalized and their separate property has been improperly awarded to their former spouse. Unfortunately, it is often impossible to go back and fix a flawed decree. For this reason, it is important to have a competent lawyer on your team long before the decree is finalized by the court.

Here are some tips for protecting your separate property during a divorce:

Keep good records of your separate property. This includes things like purchase receipts, bank statements, and investment account statements.
Be careful about how you mix your separate property with community property. For example, if you deposit a gift from your parents into a joint bank account with your spouse, it may become community property.
If you are concerned about your spouse claiming your separate property as community property, you may want to consider a prenuptial agreement.

Inheritances

When a spouse inherits property during a marriage, it remains their separate property. This is true regardless of the type of property inherited, such as cash, life insurance proceeds, personal property, or real estate. The court should award inherited property to the spouse who inherited it in a property division.

In most cases, proving that inherited property is separate property is straightforward. The spouse who inherited the property simply needs to provide documentation of the inheritance to the court. This documentation may include things like the death certificate of the deceased relative, the will or trust that left the property to the spouse, and any other documents that show how the spouse acquired the property.

If you are facing a divorce and have inherited property, it is important to consult with an experienced family law attorney. An attorney can help you understand your rights and options and can represent you in court if necessary.

Here are some tips for protecting your inherited property during a divorce:

Keep good records of the inheritance. This includes things like the death certificate of the deceased relative, the will or trust that left the property to you, and any other documents that show how you acquired the property.
Be careful about how you mix your inherited property with community property. For example, if you deposit an inheritance check into a joint bank account with your spouse, it may become community property.
If you are concerned about your spouse claiming your inherited property as community property, you may want to consider a postnuptial agreement.

A postnuptial agreement is a contract that you and your spouse sign after marriage that outlines how your property will be divided in the event of a divorce. A postnuptial agreement can help to protect your inherited property and ensure that it is distributed to you in the event of a divorce.

Gifts

There are two main types of gifts during a marriage: gifts from outside the marriage and gifts from inside the marriage.

Gifts from outside the marriage are gifts that a spouse receives from a third party, such as a parent or grandparent. These gifts are considered separate property.
Gifts from inside the marriage are gifts that one spouse gives to the other spouse. These gifts can be more difficult to classify as separate property, especially if the spouses use the property together or contribute to its upkeep.

If you are facing a divorce and have received gifts during the marriage, it is important to consult with an experienced family law attorney. An attorney can help you determine whether the gifts are separate property and can represent you in court if necessary.

Here are some tips for protecting your gift property during a divorce:

Keep good records of the gifts, including the name of the giver, the date of the gift, and any documentation of the gift, such as a gift receipt or thank-you note.
Be careful about how you mix your gift property with community property. For example, if you deposit a gift check from your parents into a joint bank account with your spouse, it may become community property.
If you are concerned about your spouse claiming your gift property as community property, you may want to consider a postnuptial agreement.

A postnuptial agreement is a contract that you and your spouse sign after marriage that outlines how your property will be divided in the event of a divorce. A postnuptial agreement can help to protect your gift property and ensure that it is distributed to you in the event of a divorce.

If you have any questions or concerns about gift property during a divorce, please consult with an experienced family law attorney.

Judgments For Pain And Suffering

If you are injured during a marriage and receive a money judgment for pain and suffering, the judgment is your separate property. This means that it belongs to you and you alone, and your spouse is not entitled to any of it.

Texas law reasons that only the injured person felt the pain, so awards for pain and suffering should go to the spouse who suffered. In a divorce, the property division should account for this separate property.

It is important to note that only the pain and suffering award is separate property. Any money awarded for medical bills, lost wages, or other property damage is community property. Community property is property that is owned by both spouses equally, and it is divided between the spouses during a divorce.

If you are facing a divorce and have received a pain and suffering award, it is important to consult with an experienced family law attorney. An attorney can help you protect your separate property and ensure that it is distributed to you in the event of a divorce.

Here are some tips for protecting your pain and suffering award during a divorce:

Keep good records of the award, including the court order awarding the award and any other documentation of the award.
Be careful about how you mix your pain and suffering award with community property. For example, if you deposit the award check into a joint bank account with your spouse, it may become community property.
If you are concerned about your spouse claiming your pain and suffering award as community property, you may want to consider a postnuptial agreement.

A postnuptial agreement is a contract that you and your spouse sign after marriage that outlines how your property will be divided in the event of a divorce. A postnuptial agreement can help to protect your pain and suffering award and ensure that it is distributed to you in the event of a divorce.

Converting Separate Property

Texas is a community property state, which means that all property acquired by either spouse during the marriage is presumed to be community property, regardless of whose name it is in. This means that separate property can be easily converted to community property if it is not carefully managed.

There are many ways that separate property can be converted to community property, including:

Depositing separate property funds into a joint bank account with your spouse
Using separate property to pay for community property expenses, such as a mortgage or car payment
Gifting separate property to your spouse
Mixing separate property with community property, such as by commingling funds in a joint investment account

If you are concerned about protecting your separate property during a divorce, it is important to consult with an experienced family law attorney. An attorney can help you develop a strategy for protecting your separate property and can represent you in court if necessary.

Here are some tips for protecting your separate property during a divorce:

Keep good records of your separate property. This includes things like purchase receipts, bank statements, and investment account statements.
Be careful about how you mix your separate property with community property. For example, if you deposit a separate property check into a joint bank account with your spouse, it may become community property.
Consider keeping your separate property in separate bank accounts and investment accounts.
If you are concerned about your spouse claiming your separate property as community property, you may want to consider a postnuptial agreement.

A postnuptial agreement is a contract that you and your spouse sign after marriage that outlines how your property will be divided in the event of a divorce. A postnuptial agreement can help to protect your separate property and ensure that it is distributed to you in the event of a divorce.

If you have any questions or concerns about protecting your separate property during a divorce, please consult with an experienced family law attorney.

Tracing Separate Property

Separate property is property that is owned by one spouse and not the other, and it is not subject to division during a divorce. However, the spouse who owns the separate property must prove that it is separate property. This can be difficult, especially if the separate property has been mixed with community property.

One of the most difficult types of separate property to prove is money. Many people deposit their separate property money into a joint bank account with their spouse, which can convert the money to community property. Similarly, if a person uses separate property money to purchase a house with their spouse, the court may presume that the heir intended to convert the money to community property.

If you are facing a divorce and have separate property, it is important to consult with an experienced family law attorney. An attorney can help you protect your separate property and ensure that it is not divided during your divorce.

There are a few things you can do to protect your separate property from being converted to community property:

Keep good records of your separate property. This includes things like purchase receipts, bank statements, and investment account statements.
Be careful about how you mix your separate property with community property. For example, if you deposit a separate property check into a joint bank account with your spouse, it may become community property. Consider keeping your separate property in separate bank accounts and investment accounts.
If you are concerned about your spouse claiming your separate property as community property, you may want to consider a postnuptial agreement.

A postnuptial agreement is a contract that you and your spouse sign after marriage that outlines how your property will be divided in the event of a divorce. A postnuptial agreement can help to protect your separate property and ensure that it is distributed to you in the event of a divorce.

If you have separate property that has been converted to community property, it may be possible to trace the money back to its separate property origin. This can be a complex and expensive process, but it may be worth it if the amount of money involved is significant.

An experienced family law attorney can help you trace your separate property and prove to the court that it belongs to you. The attorney will review your financial records and gather other evidence to show the court that the money was separate property before it was converted to community property.

Understanding Community Property

Community property in Texas is any property that is not separate property. Separate property is property that is owned by one spouse before the marriage, inherited by one spouse during the marriage, or gifted to one spouse during the marriage. All other property acquired during the marriage is community property, regardless of whose name it is in.

This includes income from both spouses. Even if one spouse earns significantly more than the other, or if one spouse does not work outside the home, both spouses own a half interest in all income earned during the marriage.

Texas law presumes that all property owned by the spouses at the time of divorce is community property. This means that each spouse has a half interest in all property, including the house, cars, furniture, and bank accounts.

If you are facing a divorce in Texas, it is important to understand how community property is divided. An experienced family law attorney can help you protect your rights and ensure that you receive a fair and just property division.

Here are some additional things to keep in mind about community property in Texas:

Community property can be commingled, which means that it can be mixed with separate property. If this happens, it can be difficult to trace the separate property and prove its ownership.
Community property can be gifted to one spouse, but the gift must be made in writing and signed by both spouses.
Community property can be transmuted into separate property by agreement of both spouses. This must also be done in writing.

If you have any questions about community property in Texas, please consult with an experienced family law attorney.

Just And Right Division

Texas courts strive to achieve a just and equitable division of the marital estate in divorce cases. This does not mean that all property is divided equally between the spouses.

In some cases, based on the specific facts of the case, one spouse may receive more of one asset while the other spouse receives more of a different asset. For example, the husband may keep his entire retirement account while the wife is awarded the equity in the marital home.

Experienced family law attorneys can use strategies to help their clients keep more of the assets they want. Property division should not be left to chance, and experienced attorneys can help shape the property division in their client’s favor.

Here are some factors that Texas courts may consider when dividing community property:

The length of the marriage
The contributions of each spouse to the marriage, both financial and non-financial
The needs of each spouse
The tax implications of the division of property
Any agreements between the spouses regarding the division of property

If you are facing a divorce in Texas, it is important to consult with an experienced family law attorney to discuss your property division options. An attorney can help you understand your rights and ensure that you receive a fair and just property division.

Property Division Attorney in Tarrant County, TX

Dividing marital assets can be a contentious and confusing process, but you do not need to handle everything on your own. When you get The Law Offices of Richard C. McConathy involved in your case, our firm will be able to help you retain all of the items most important to you and fight to make sure you get your fair share of the estate.

Do not wait to call (817) 422-5350 or contact us online so you can take advantage of a free consultation so we can fully explore all of your legal options. It is important to note that we also handle cases involving various domestic violence allegations, including child abuse.