Dividing Assets Obtained After the Breakup, but Before the Divorce.

As a family lawyer in Tarrant County and Parker CountyTexas, I find that many of my clients are facing similar circumstances. One of the common questions I am asked is:

Dividing Assets in Divorce

The circumstance might be because the parties broke up years ago and just never divorced or it might be that someone acquired the property while the divorce was pending. Before discussing this, let’s review  some principles of   Texas marital property law  first . This example is an oversimplification. But, It shows how the family courts look at properties. First let’s say, The wife has her own separate property estate, then husband had his own separate property estate and there is community property that is owned by both of them.

There are lots of exceptions, but generally, property obtained during the marriage is community property. Property owned before marriage or that is obtained during the marriage by gift or inheritance is separate property.The judge can divide the community property, but has no authority to divide separate property.

The judge does NOT have to divide the property equally; he or she can give one part more of the community estate than the other party. So, if the parties separate and the one of them buys a car, land, or other property using community funds, the new asset is still community property. The same holds true for money put into a retirement account. It does not matter whose name is on the deed or title. The question is, how will the judge divide this property? The answer is, I don’t know. The judge has wide discretion in dividing the property of the marriage. There is no question that the property is community property, but there can be widely divergent results.

An example of this is a case where the husband started a new business after the parties broke up. The case was long and contentious and at the time that the judge had to make a decision, the judge said that she will not give the wife any of the business since the husband bought into it and worked on it after the wife left him. I question the legality of this since the husband partially used community funds to get into the business, but even with this fact the judge still did not consider it in her decision.

I have also seen cases where the judge divided everything that the couple had on the day of divorce even though one spouse earned it after the break-up. I believe that this more closely corresponds to Texas law and I would advise anyone thinking about starting a business or obtaining new property not to do so unless they were willing for it to be community property. As I stated before, this is an oversimplification of Texas community property law.

When there is other property obtained during the marriage that is separate and there is frequently the possibility that there is reimbursement due if one marital estate pays for another. If you are concerned about this; many of the assumptions that people make are simply wrong. It is always a good idea to seek the advise of a family law attorney. If you do not have a family law attorney in Fort Worth call the Bob Leonard Law Group at 817-337-8500.

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