In every Woodlands Divorce case your attorney will review the assets and debts that exist between you and your spouse. After the assets and debts are identified your Woodlands Divorce Attorney will then work with you to discover which assets may qualify as separate property and can benefit from the special protections available to separate property in a divorce. If you or your spouse received funds as part of a personal injury settlement, a portion of the settlement or award may have been categorized as punitive or exemplary damages. Are punitive damages community property or separate property? Read more…

If you see the commercials for legalzoom and other document sellers you might think legal documents are simple or all the same. They may want you to think that, but remember: if there is a mistake in your Woodlands Divorce documents then you will be the one suffering the consequences and not them. Some of these mistakes are quickly discovered and can be fixed, while others remain undiscovered for years and then surface to create unintended results when it is too late to fix them.

One ex-wife recently found herself in court again ten years after her divorce was finalized. The reason: her divorce decree was flawed and a piece of property worth $69,594.06 that she thought was hers was paid out to her ex-husband’s second wife. Let’s take a look at the details.

Husband and ex-wife divorced after forty years of marriage. The divorce decree awarded husband and ex-wife each one-half of the yearly payments from husband’s pension savings plan. Following the divorce, husband met and married second wife. After husband‘s death ten years later, the balance remaining in the pension savings plan was paid to second wife as the designated beneficiary of the account.

Ex-wife filed suit against second wife claiming that, pursuant to the divorce decree, one-half of the plan’s balance was hers. The Court noted that although the decree distributed the pension plan’s yearly payments, it did not provide for the plan‘s balance. Thus, the effect of the defective decree’s language left the balance as undivided community property. As a result, ex-wife became a cotenant of her one-half share of the undivided balance, and sued second wife to obtain her half of the property.

A Costly Mistake

In this case the ex-wife successfully recovered the one-half of the retirement account that she believed was hers. She had to incur additional legal fees and the uncertainty of going to court to do it, however. In addition, the second wife made a critical mistake and accidentally waived a legal argument that may very well have resulted in the court deciding the case in her favor. Keep this in mind if you find yourself having to choose between the $299 legalzoom divorce and an experienced Woodlands Divorce attorney. Contact us today at (832) 592-7913 if you need experienced legal help with your Montgomery County divorce case.

If you would like additional information, check out our free Woodlands Divorce Guide.

Did that house you owned before marriage and then refinanced during marriage become community property? This is a very common question that comes up in a Woodlands Divorce, usually as the result of rushing through the refinance process without considering the impact certain documents can have on characterizing the house as separate property or community property. Separate property is always separate property, that much is true; however, if you change the title on separate property you may have accidentally given up the protection separate property has in a divorce.

As we’ve discussed before, separate property is property acquired before the marriage. It is important to identify separate property because in a divorce case the judge does not have the authority to award your ex-spouse your separate property, the judge can only divide community property. As long as the name on the title of separate property does not change it will remain separate property. Unfortunately in a refinance transaction the lenders usually end up having people name their spouse as co-owners of the property. During the refinance process your lender may have told you that it would be quicker or easier to have both spouses on everything. That may be true for them, but it could have put you in great jeopardy.

If you accidentally made your spouse a co-owner of the home during the marriage then you have opened yourself up to a hornet’s nest of community property litigation in your Woodlands Divorce case which could have been avoided with some careful planning ahead of time. Contact us today at (832) 592-7913 if you need to protect your rights to separate or community property.

Check out our free Woodlands Divorce Guide if you need more answers.

Are you considering divorce and are not sure where to begin?

Has your spouse already filed for divorce and you are not sure how to protect yourself?

Are you wondering:

• How much child support is involved in your divorce?
• Is spousal maintenance going to be awarded in your divorce?
• How often will you see your kids after the divorce?
• What is separate property and what is community property?
• What happens to retirement accounts in a divorce?

To help answer some of the most common questions I am proud to announce the release of my Woodlands Divorce Guide available for free download. You can get your copy by clicking on the link below.

The Woodlands Divorce Guide

If you have a question that is not answered in this version of The Guide, post your question in the comments below or contact us and we will consider it for inclusion in future editions.

A recovery that you obtain for personal injuries during your marriage is generally considered to be your separate property and not community property in a Woodlands divorce. There is one significant exception however. A personal injury award can be made up of several different components. There may be an award for pain and suffering as well as for lost wages. The portions of a personal injury award that belong to the community estate include damages for lost wages, medical expenses, and other expenses associated with injury to the community estate. Once an item is identified as community property it becomes subject to division between you and your ex-spouse in the divorce.

Who Must Prove What?

When a spouse receives a settlement from a lawsuit during marriage, some of which could be separate property and some of which could be community property, it is that spouse’s burden to demonstrate which portion of the settlement is his or her separate property. This is important to remember, the person claiming the personal injury award as community property does not have to prove a thing unless the other spouse is able to establish the award is separate property by clear and convincing evidence. Call (832) 592-7913 and speak with a Woodlands Divorce Lawyer about protecting your rights if you or your spouse settled a lawsuit during your marriage.

Not everyone gets divorced right away. All too often the husband and wife go their separate ways and never bother to end the legal marriage relationship. It is usually never a good idea to maintain a legal relationship that could result in liability to you, but it also can create special problems when the husband and wife end up in different states and then one decides to pursue a divorce. Can you get a divorce in Texas when your spouse lives in another state?

Yes, and no. If your spouse cooperates you can get divorced and property divided in Texas. However, if your spouse does not cooperate you may be in for a difficult time.

Recently the Houston Court of Appeals confirmed that if the out of state spouse has no contacts at all with Texas then the Texas divorce court does not have authority to divide property and debt. A Texas court does have authority to grant the spouse that lives in Texas a divorce to determine their legal status, but does not always have the authority to divide property and debt. Contact a Woodlands Divorce Lawyer today if you need to get divorced from a spouse that does not live in Texas.

Wasting community property is one valid reason a judge may order a disproportionate division of community property in a Montgomery County Divorce. A common example of wasting community property in a divorce would be if one spouse makes substantial gifts to a new girlfriend, boyfriend, or anyone outside the marriage using community property. If you take money or property that is community property and transfer it outside of the community estate then you may have a “waste” situation which opens the door for a disproportionate division of community property. One court recently ruled that a husband who used community property while the divorce was pending to purchase a new home and car for himself was guilty of waste. The appeals court disagreed. Let’s see why.

Background

Wife and husband married in 1990. In 2006, wife and children fled the family home alleging family violence by husband. The couple filed for divorce in 2007. During divorce proceedings, husband sold community property and used those assets to pay community debts and to purchase a home and an automobile for his personal use. Following trial, trial court awarded wife a disproportionate share of the community estate due to husband’s “wasting of community assets” in violation of a court order.

Husband appealed on multiple grounds including that trial court abused its discretion in finding that he wasted community assets and making a disproportionate property division and money damages award based on that finding.

Waste and Community Property Division

Under the family code, a trial court in a divorce proceeding is charged with ordering a division of the community estate in a manner that the court deems “just and right,” having due regard for the rights of each. In dividing the community estate, the trial court can consider several nonexclusive factors including whether one party wastes community property. Waste occurs when Read more…

Many people believe property is divided in half as a result of divorce. It certainly sounds reasonable on many levels. Equal division of property is the standard in some other states, but not in Texas. You can end up with a lot more, or a lot less, than 50% of the community property so you better understand the legal standard the judge is going to use.

It may not mean much to you right now, but if you have significant property to divide in your Woodlands Divorce case then the words “just and right” may end up haunting you if you are not prepared. “Just and Right” is Read more…

In the last post I went through the requirements for identifying certain property as “separate property” in your divorce case for Montgomery County or Houston. Here we will review the rules for identifying community property.

Community property is everything acquired during the marriage that is not properly identified as separate property. The Conroe and Houston Divorce Courts must presume that all property acquired during the marriage is community property unless either spouse can prove to the court by clear and convincing evidence that certain items are protected as separate property.

When Does This Presumption End? Read more…

Division of property is often a significant issue for families going through divorce in The Woodlands or Montgomery County. Each spouse wants to keep or obtain the property they believe they are entitled to. Texas is a community property state; however, it is possible to protect your separate property from becoming community property and being partially awarded to your future ex-spouse.

Any property on hand in a marriage is presumed to be community property. In order to rebut this presumption of community property, your Montgomery County Divorce Attorney must trace the property on hand during the marriage back to property that was separate (i.e. before the marriage) and continue up to the end of the marriage. This means the entire period from when you first obtained the property up to the date the divorce petition was filed. If you are successful, you can keep your separate property from becoming community property. If you fail, the Court may award significantly more of your separate property to your ex-spouse than he or she is entitled to.

How do you stop this from happening? Read more…