In short, yes, you should have an attorney to represent you in a postnuptial agreement for several reasons: To be sure you are treated fairly in the agreement. To have the agreement upheld, as a court is much more likely to say it is a valid contract if both parties were represented by counsel when they entered into it.
Even if only one spouse's name is on the deed, any property bought during the marriage is presumed to be community property, unless it was bought with separate property funds. The spouse claiming it as separate property must prove it in court.
The exceptions to community property are funds or things that are: Owned by one spouse before the date of marriage. Inherited by one spouse before, during or after the marriage. Gifted to one spouse. Property purchased with separate funds during the marriage.
Everything acquired during a marriage is community property unless a spouse can prove (or the spouses agree) that it is separate property. Separate property is property owned before marriage, or acquired during the marriage as a gift, through inheritance, or as part of a personal injury settlement.
Texas law allows spouses wide latitude in drafting their property agreements. After a marriage, spouses may change community property to separate property and vice-versa.
The process of partition action starts with one or more owners filing a petition in court. The court then examines the real estate details and the owners' interests to decide on the best division method.
Every co-owner of an interest in the property (no matter how small) must agree in order for a voluntary partition to occur. The remedy when agreement cannot be reached is for one or more of the co-owners to seek a court-ordered division by means of a partition suit.
Code § 4.102. Current with legislation from the 2023 Regular and Special Sessions signed by the Governor as of November 21, 2023. At any time, the spouses may partition or exchange between themselves all or part of their community property, then existing or to be acquired, as the spouses may desire.
Potential solutions for dividing inherited property include selling the property and dividing the proceeds, providing siblings with co-ownership, and having one sibling buy out the other siblings.
There are two potential pathways in seeking a partition: Partitions may be in kind (meaning that property is divided into separate parcels and each parcel is allotted to a separate owner) or by sale (meaning that property is sold and sale proceeds are divided among the owners).