Texas presumes property acquired during marriage is community property, but exceptions exist for separate property owned before marriage or received as gifts. Inheritances remain separate property if not commingled with community assets. Keep inheritances in a separate account to maintain their status.
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.
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.
Community vs. Separate property, as defined under Texas law, is any asset that you owned before your marriage, as well as anything you received individually as a gift or inheritance during your marriage. Pre-marriage ownership – Anything you owned before you got married remains solely yours.
This is critically important in the state of Texas: a home that was bought before a marriage is separate property in Texas. Separate property is not community property so the spouse that owned the home prior to the marriage will retain that home.
The answer depends largely on how those accounts are managed. If community funds (like income earned during the marriage) are mixed with separate funds, the entire account can be considered community property, especially if it's impossible to trace the origin of the funds. Commingling can happen in many ways.
Section 4.203 - Formalities of Agreement (a) An agreement to convert separate property to community property: (1) must be in writing and: (A) be signed by the spouses; (B) identify the property being converted; and (C) specify that the property is being converted to the spouses' community property; and (2) is ...
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.
There is a somewhat common misconception that in all Texas divorce cases community property will be divided between the spouses equally, or “50/50.” However, the legal standard for dividing community property in Texas is not 50/50.
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.