When you speak with an attorney about a divorce he/she will usually ask you about the property you and your spouse have. Most people think of property as their house, however, property entails everything that you and your spouse have acquired. To further complicate matters, the Texas Family Code breaks property down into two categories: community property and separate property. This post will discuss these two categories of property.
Community Property – All property acquired during marriage is presumed to be community property, therefore, unless you can demonstrate to the Court that the property is your separate property it is subject to division by the Court. A Court has the ability to make a just and right division of the community property acquired during the marriage. If any property that you own is considered your separate property then the Court cannot award that property to your spouse.
Separate Property – Property acquired prior to marriage typically is your separate property. Any property acquired by gift, devise or descent is separate property (even if given to both of you). Some of the money received as part of a personal injury settlement is separate property. As stated above, being able to establish that property is your separate property during a divorce prevents the Court from awarding any of that to your spouse.
In the future articles I will detail some of the complications involved with defining community property and separate property as well as discussing the different types of property that the Courts divide during a divorce.