Understanding Separate Property in a Texas Divorce

 Posted on February 13, 2025 in Property Division

In Texas, all of your marital property is considered to belong equally to both spouses. This means that in a divorce, marital assets are to be divided 50/50. However, not everything you own is marital property. Most married people have some assets that are legally considered separate property. Your spouse has no claim to your separate property. It is yours to keep when you get divorced. You may need to prove that a certain item or account is your separate property, especially if your spouse resists allowing you to take what is rightfully yours. One of the main problems with separate property is that it is very easy for a married person to inadvertently contribute his or her individual assets to the marriage, rendering them marital property. If you have significant separate property, your Parker County, TX division of marital assets attorney can prioritize protecting it.

Categories of Separate Property in a Marriage 

Texas recognizes a few categories of separate property a married person might own, including: 

• Premarital property - Anything you owned before you got married is considered your separate property. Because you were single when you acquired your premarital property, your spouse is not presumed to have contributed to those assets. 
• Inheritance - When your loved one left you an inheritance, she almost certainly did not intend for your spouse to take any of it from you in the event of a divorce. Additionally, inherited property can carry a lot of sentimental value within a family that your spouse would not share in. 
• Individual gifts - Gifts that were given to you specifically rather than to you and your spouse are your separate property. 
• Personal injury winnings - If you were the plaintiff in a personal injury lawsuit and received a settlement or award, that money belongs to you. You are the one who got hurt so that money is yours alone. 

Donating Separate Property to Your Marriage

It is remarkably easy to convert your separate property into marital property without intending to. Comingling your separate funds with marital funds - such as by depositing a check you were given for your birthday into your joint bank account - is usually enough to show that you contributed those funds to your marriage.

Separate property can also become marital property if both spouses contribute to improving an asset or paying off an asset that one spouse purchased before marriage. For example, say you bought your house a few years before getting married. Since you got married, your spouse has been using his or her income to help make mortgage payments and carry out renovations that increased the home’s value. In this instance, it would be unfair to call the house your sole property.

Contact a Palo Pinto, TX Divorce Lawyer 

The Law Offices of Kary L. Key is committed to helping people protect their separate property in the event of a divorce. Our highly experienced Parker County, TX property division attorneys will do all we can to make sure you will not be unjustly deprived of your individual property. Contact us at 817-599-6969 for a complimentary consultation.