By: Dutton (Senate Sponsor - West) H.B. No. 885
(In the Senate - Received from the House May 2, 2003;
May 6, 2003, read first time and referred to Committee on
Jurisprudence; May 20, 2003, reported favorably by the following
vote: Yeas 6, Nays 0; May 20, 2003, sent to printer.)
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the rights of spouses in relation to separate and
community property.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 3.403, Family Code, is amended by
amending Subsection (b) and adding Subsection (b-1) to read as
follows:
(b) The amount of the claim under this section is equal to
the product of:
(1) the equity in the benefited property on the date of
dissolution of the marriage, the death of a spouse, or disposition
of the property; multiplied by
(2) a fraction of which:
(A) the numerator is the economic contribution to
the property owned by the benefited marital estate by the
contributing marital estate; and
(B) the denominator is an amount equal to the sum
of:
(i) the economic contribution to the
property owned by the benefited marital estate by the contributing
marital estate; and
(ii) the [equity in the property as of the
date of the marriage or, if later, the date of the first economic
contribution by the contributing estate; and
[(iii) the economic] contribution [to the
property] by the benefited estate to the equity in the property
owned by the benefited estate [during the marriage].
(b-1) The amount of the contribution by the benefited
marital estate under Subsection (b)(2)(B)(ii) is measured by
determining:
(1) if the benefited estate is the community property
estate:
(A) the net equity of the community property
estate in the property owned by the community property estate as of
the date of the first economic contribution to that property by the
contributing separate property estate; and
(B) any additional economic contribution to the
equity in the property owned by the community property estate made
by the benefited community property estate after the date described
by Subdivision (A); or
(2) if the benefited estate is the separate property
estate of a spouse:
(A) the net equity of the separate property
estate in the property owned by the separate property estate as of
the date of the first economic contribution to that property by the
contributing community property estate or the separate property
estate of the other spouse; and
(B) any additional contribution to the equity in
the property owned by the separate property estate made by the
benefited separate property estate after the date described by
Subdivision (A).
SECTION 2. Section 4.102, Family Code, is amended to read as
follows:
Sec. 4.102. PARTITION OR EXCHANGE OF COMMUNITY PROPERTY.
At any time, the spouses may partition or exchange between
themselves all or [any] part of their community property, then
existing or to be acquired, as the spouses may desire. Property or
a property interest transferred to a spouse by a partition or
exchange agreement becomes that spouse's separate property. The
partition or exchange of property includes future earnings and
income arising from the property as the separate property of the
owning spouse unless the spouses agree in a record that the future
earnings and income will be community property after the partition
or exchange.
SECTION 3. Section 4.205, Family Code, is amended by adding
Subsection (c) to read as follows:
(c) If a proceeding regarding enforcement of an agreement
under this subchapter occurs after the death of the spouse against
whom enforcement is sought, the proof required by Subsection (a)
may be made by an heir of the spouse or the personal representative
of the estate of that spouse.
SECTION 4. Section 7.002, Family Code, is amended to read as
follows:
Sec. 7.002. DIVISION AND DISPOSITION OF CERTAIN PROPERTY
UNDER SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES. (a) In addition to the division of the
estate of the parties required by Section 7.001, in a decree of
divorce or annulment the court shall order a division of the
following real and personal property, wherever situated, in a
manner that the court deems just and right, having due regard for
the rights of each party and any children of the marriage:
(1) property that was acquired by either spouse while
domiciled in another state and that would have been community
property if the spouse who acquired the property had been domiciled
in this state at the time of the acquisition; or
(2) property that was acquired by either spouse in
exchange for real or personal property and that would have been
community property if the spouse who acquired the property so
exchanged had been domiciled in this state at the time of its
acquisition.
(b) In a decree of divorce or annulment, the court shall
award to a spouse the following real and personal property,
wherever situated, as the separate property of the spouse:
(1) property that was acquired by the spouse while
domiciled in another state and that would have been the spouse's
separate property if the spouse had been domiciled in this state at
the time of acquisition; or
(2) property that was acquired by the spouse in
exchange for real or personal property and that would have been the
spouse's separate property if the spouse had been domiciled in this
state at the time of acquisition.
(c) In a decree of divorce or annulment, the court shall
confirm the following as the separate property of a spouse if
partitioned or exchanged by written agreement of the spouses:
(1) income and earnings from the spouses' property,
wages, salaries, and other forms of compensation received on or
after January 1 of the year in which the suit for dissolution of
marriage was filed; or
(2) income and earnings from the spouses' property,
wages, salaries, and other forms of compensation received in
another year during which the spouses were married for any part of
the year.
SECTION 5. (a) This Act takes effect September 1, 2003.
(b) The change in law made by this Act by the amendment of
Section 4.102, Family Code, applies only to an agreement to
partition or exchange property made on or after the effective date
of this Act. An agreement made before the effective date of this
Act is governed by the law in effect on the date the agreement was
made, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
(c) The change in law made by this Act by the enactment of
Section 4.205(c), Family Code, applies to an agreement under
Subchapter C, Chapter 4, Family Code, without regard to whether the
agreement was made before, on, or after the effective date of this
Act.
(d) The changes in law made by this Act by the amendment of
Sections 3.403 and 7.002, Family Code, apply to a suit for
dissolution of a marriage pending before a trial court on or filed
on or after the effective date of this Act.
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