CN C.S.H.B. 247 75(R)BILL ANALYSIS JUVENILE JUSTICE AND FAMILY ISSUES C.S.H.B. 247 By: Longoria 4-24-97 Committee Report (Substituted) BACKGROUND Texas is a community property state. This means that when two spouses are divorced, the couple's assets, property, and money are divided equally between the two. Simply put, everything the couple possesses is split between the two parties. The same applies to retirement benefits earned by either spouse. Current law does not state that divorced spouses are only entitled to retirement benefits earned during the life of the marriage unless otherwise specified on the divorce decree. This discrepancy causes divorced spouses, who believe they are only forfeiting benefits earned while the couple are married, to enter into an agreement awarding their spouse half of their total retirement benefits income regardless of whether the spouse worked for some period. PURPOSE The purpose of this bill is to clarify the law in effect by making retirement benefits earned after the dissolution of the marriage separate property of that spouse. This property would not be subject to division by a court rendering a decision in the dissolution of the marriage. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of this committee that this bill does not grant any additional rulemaking authority to any state officer, institution, or department. SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1: Amends Subchapter A, Chapter 3, Family Code by declaring retirement benefits earned by a spouse after the dissolution of a marriage are separate property of that spouse and are not subject to division by a court rendering an order in the suit to dissolve the marriage. SECTION 2: The Act is intended to clarify existing law in effect before the effective date of this Act and applies to retirement benefits earned by a spouse after dissolution of a marriage without regard to whether the dissolution occurs before, on, or after the effective date of this Act. SECTION 3: Emergency Clause. COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE The substitute bill makes no substantive change to the original, rather it places the new language in Subchapter A, Chapter 3, Family Code, as added by Senate Bill No. 334, Acts of the 75th Legislature, Regular Session, 1997, where as the original bill placed the language in Subchapter A, Chapter 5, Family Code.