By Goodman                                            H.B. No. 2142
         76R6214 JMM-F                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the appreciation or increase in value of separate
 1-3     property during a marriage.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 3.003, Family Code, is amended by adding
 1-6     Subsections (c) and (d) to read as follows:
 1-7           (c)  The appreciation or increase in value during a marriage
 1-8     of separate property owned by a spouse due to the time, toil, and
 1-9     effort of one or both of the spouses during the marriage or due to
1-10     the financial contributions made with community property for the
1-11     separate property is presumed to be community property.  The
1-12     presumption created by this subsection may be rebutted only to the
1-13     extent that the spouse who owns the separate property proves by
1-14     clear and convincing evidence that the appreciation or increase in
1-15     value is not due to the time, toil, or effort of either spouse
1-16     during the marriage.
1-17           (d)  If community property is used to discharge all or part
1-18     of a debt on the separate property under Subsection (c), the amount
1-19     of the contribution from community property is considered to be the
1-20     amount by which the principal of the debt was reduced during the
1-21     marriage.  The community interest in the separate property subject
1-22     to the debt is computed by dividing the amount of the contribution
1-23     from community property by the amount of the original principal on
1-24     the debt.
 2-1           SECTION 2.  Section 7.002, Family Code, is amended to read as
 2-2     follows:
 2-3           Sec. 7.002.  DIVISION OF PROPERTY UNDER SPECIAL
 2-4     CIRCUMSTANCES.  In addition to the division of the estate of the
 2-5     parties required by Section 7.001, in a decree of divorce or
 2-6     annulment the court shall order a division of the following real
 2-7     and personal property, wherever situated, in a manner that the
 2-8     court deems just and right, having due regard for the rights of
 2-9     each party and any children of the marriage:
2-10                 (1)  property that was acquired by either spouse while
2-11     domiciled in another state and that would have been community
2-12     property if the spouse who acquired the property had been domiciled
2-13     in this state at the time of the acquisition; [or]
2-14                 (2)  property that was acquired by either spouse in
2-15     exchange for real or personal property and that would have been
2-16     community property if the spouse who acquired the property so
2-17     exchanged had been domiciled in this state at the time of its
2-18     acquisition; or
2-19                 (3)  property that appreciated or increased in value
2-20     during a marriage as provided by Section 3.003.
2-21           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999, and
2-22     applies to a suit for dissolution of a marriage pending on that
2-23     date or filed on or after that date.
2-24           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-25     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-26     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-27     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 3-1     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.