Differences in Separate Property and Community Property in Texas

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Introduction

 Texas is a community property state. That means the property laws came from Mexico and Spain, and are quite different from the laws in those states that were English colonies. The law of property, in Texas, begins with 2 definitions.

Separate Property 

In Texas, separate property is:

Property owned before the marriage; or,

Inherited property; or,

A gift; or,

A recovery for some personal injuries during the marriage; or,

Separate property that has changed in form, but can still be identified as separate property.

Community Property 

 In Texas, everything else is community property. All property is presumed to be community property, unless clear and convincing proof can show it to be one of the 5 items shown above.

Importance of separate and community

 A divorce court can and will divide community property between spouses. A divorce court cannot give husband's separate property to his wife (or vice versa). When a person dies, separate property is given to different heirs than to whom community property is given.

Examples

The definitions sound simple enough, so let's see some examples:

Engagement Ring

Is Susie’s engagement ring and wedding ring her separate property? Yes, for two reasons. They were gifts. In addition, Susie owned them before the marriage; before a preacher said “I pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride.” 

Pickup Truck trade-in

John bought a pickup truck before the marriage, and then traded it in for a newer truck after the marriage. A Ford truck purchased before the marriage, and changed to a newer Dodge pickup after the marriage, is still, John’s separate property.

Purchased before Marriage, but paid for after Marriage

John only signed the contract to buy a pickup truck before the marriage. All the monthly payments were made by John during the marriage.  Because the purchase contract was signed before the marriage, the truck is John's separate property.

Retirement

John works for ABC Corporation and earned retirement for 20 years. During that time, he was married to Susie for 10 years. Susie gets ½ of John’s retirement earned during the marriage.  Susie gets none of John's (separate) retirement before they were married.

Living together

If Susie and John lived together before the marriage, Susie gets none of John's retirement during that time. This is unfair to Susie, but she can solve the problem by marrying John before living with him.

Title in John’s Name only

If the property is community property, the name on the title makes no difference. This is a huge difference between Texas law and states that were English colonies. In those states, called common law states, the name on the title makes all the difference. A Texas divorce court will divide community property, even if the title is in only one name.

Separate Property in both Names

If separate property is in both names, Texas law says it is a gift and is owned 50 - 50.

A Bank Account or E Trade Account

Before his marriage, John’s E-trade account had $20,000 dollars in 

the account. It now has $15,000 dollars. Simple subtraction shows that it is all John’s separate property, right? No, Texas law says it is entirely community property.

Tracing

For a court to say the E-trade account is John's separate property, each dollar must be traced back to a specific gift, a specific inheritance, or shown that it was owned before the marriage.  It could also be shown to be the result of a trade of separate property, (100 shares of Exxon, owned before marriage, traded for 150 shares of ABC Corporation). If the figures are too confusing, or if the records are lost, all of the account will be presumed to be community property.

Tracing problems

It is common for courts to find bank accounts are community property. Records get shredded; banks keep records for only a short period of time. The tracing will also fail, if after the marriage, John's weekly paycheck is deposited and mixed with the separate money. The character of the money is lost and the account is found to be a community account.

Summary

These rules are confusing. So go back to the definition of separate property. Was the property was a gift, or inherited, or owned before marriage?  If yes, then it is separate property. Was the property separate property, but traded for something else during the marriage? If yes, then it is separate property. Was the property a personal injury settlement during the marriage? If yes, then it depends. A "no" answer to any of these questions means that the property is community property.

Conclusion

It is important to know the character of property in Texas. If this is important to you, then make a list with the date of the marriage, the date the property was obtained, what money paid for the property, and then go talk to a lawyer. 

Mistaken Paternity in East Texas

Correcting a mistaken paternity.

Mistaken Paternity can be corrected in East Texas, if there was:

·       no DNA test was given to the man; and

·       a man signed a paper admitting he was the father, on the false belief that he was the father of the child; or

·       a man did not argue a court case on the false belief that he was the father of the child; and

·       the man brings the suit within 1 year of the date on which he becomes aware that he was not the child's real father.

Four Questions

A man should ask himself four questions.

Has it been less than a year since you signed a paper admitting you were the father?  (Yes)

Has it been less than a year since a court said you were the father? (Yes)

Was there a DNA test? (No)

Did you sign the paper admitting you were the father, or fail to argue a court case, on the false belief that you were the father? (Yes)

The Law  

Section 161.005, Texas Family Code, allows the man to file a suit asking that child support and medical support orders be ended. The child support will end on the date the Termination Order is signed, but there will be no repayment of child support or medical support already owing. If it seems unfair, just tell that to my client, who brought the lawsuit within 1 year of the passing of the new law and had paid child support for many years. He did not receive a refund of even a dollar. He had regularly paid child support on the 1^st and 15^th of the month for many years, but had to pay the full amount of monthly child support for the last month, because it was all due on the 1^st and the Termination Order was signed on the 12^th.

File a lawsuit, now! 

The moral of this story is plain. If the facts fit, get a lawyer and file a suit as soon as possible. If a paper or a court says you are the father, you may pay $400 a month in child support. In 18 years, that will cost you $86,400.00. If you wait past the 1 year deadline, you will not be able file a lawsuit to correct the mistake.

It is the economy, stupid!

The economy is at 0.1 %. The important thing is 0. 0 new jobs. 0 new business. 0 government competence. The gov't is printing money; prices for local stuff will go up. The value of the dollar will go down again; foreign goods, like oil, will go up. 47% of our people live on government checks, and most other Americans get small paychecks. Taxes on small paychecks are up.

If this sounds like boring white cracker stuff, go buy food for your family at the grocery store.  Most bread sells for $4 a loaf at local stores.

So, how long did Obama tell us the lie that the economy was above 2% or 3%? Does it matter that you were lied to?

Is it time to ramp up the hate speech on MSNBC against white Republicans?

How high do prices rise before the riots start?
Do you expect government checks to go up with prices?
Do you expect your county (or city) paycheck to go up with prices?

Really?

An Amazing Grant Writing Nonprofit Group

Listen!  I am a citizen of a county, state, and a federal government: no one listens to me or helps me. There is, however, a group that listens and will help you. You have never heard of them.

Circle of Ten: A Circle of Ten, Inc. - Network for Collaboration, is a nonprofit group that is amazing.

Grant Writing: The Circle of Ten has monthly grant writing sessions for persons in nonprofit groups. The attendees bring their hopes, desires and needs. Libraries need books and computers. Schools need computers, buildings, a/c systems.

Preparing a Grant Application: A Circle of Ten, Inc. session guides the preparation of applications, which are submitted during the session. A Circle of Ten knows who to ask for the money and knows, before giving out any money, what the agency is really looking for. A Circle of Ten also knows who to call at the agency. They are on a first name basis with the right people, at federal, state, and private agencies, who judge applications and sign the checks.

No Go.  Of course, you can buy a book of forms and fill in the blanks. And, you can fly to Washington D.C., and spend the summer trying to see the right person. Or, you can go to Google, get the names of charitable agencies, and start making telephone calls. Oh yeah. You probably tried that already.

Contact Info: A Circle of Ten, Inc. is not hard to find. A list of dates, times and places for grant writing sessions is found on your computer. Go to Circle of 10 or Virtual Village for info and schedules. Send them an email. Or you may pick up your cell phone and call 903-541-0013 (Fax 888-214-5210).

I remember sitting down for lunch in Tyler, Texas, at Cox's Grill, and meeting the director of the public health department for our district. For some reason, I shut up and listened. He told me that every day, some of his employees receive a list of names and some  medicines. The list of names is a list of those persons with a disease so dangerous (Tuberculosis) that his employees are instructed to go see them, and watch them take the medicines. Simply asking the people if they had taken their pills is not good enough, the employee had to see the person place the pill in his mouth and swallow it. A refusal to take the medicine would result in the person being locked up in a hospital and receiving his medical treatment there.

As dangerous as Tuberculosis is, it seems that some forms of mental illness, along with guns, is even worse. Sending someone out to watch the bi-polar person take his medicine (and see if he is playing with an AR-15) is fairly simple. It is certainly easier than finding and locking down hundreds of millions of firearms.

Isn't one solution to send someone out, watch the dangerous person take his medicine, and see what is going on?

From the lawyer to the artist:  Since prehistory, man has known that art came, in part, from a source outside the artist. The ancients worshiped 9 pagan goddesses, the Muses, who inspired artists. Around campfires, Arabs in North Africa watched dancers, when they saw a greater-than-human dance, cried, “Allah!”  After the Arabs conquered Spain, the Spaniards, who saw God in a bullfighter’s greater-than-human courage, cried, “Ole’!” (Ole’ being derived from Allah).

However, the modern rational man wrongly believes it all comes from inside the artist. This creates an intense pressure. As a result, modern artists suffer drug abuse, mental illness, and suicide at staggering rates. As an artist, pray and consider that you will do your part, but that God, if he wants your art to be great, will do his part. It is not all from you. Part comes from God. Take the pressure off of yourself. It is not all your success; it is not all your failure. Allow God to add to your art (and your law practice.) 

The Peace Treaty of Troup, Texas: A nice lady in our little country church, in her 90s, pulled up to the doughnut store in Troup the other day, and discovered a police car behind her with flashing lights. The officer shouted, "Why didn't you stop, when I turned on the flashing lights, 2 blocks ago?" She apologized, and confessed that the State of Texas had taken away her driver's license. She knew she was not supposed to be driving, but she just had to have a chocolate doughnut. As we all know, the cravings for (chocolate or buttermilk) doughnuts are powerful.

A Peace Treaty was agreed upon. The next time she just has to have a chocolate doughnut, she will call the Policeman, and he will get her the doughnut and bring it to her home just outside of town.

Peace and Safety for All. Back the Blue.