79S10912 JMM-F

By:  Goodman                                                      H.B. No. 100



A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the property interests of spouses in connection with 
certain separate and community property.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Sections 3.007(a) and (b), Family Code, as 
enacted by H.B. No. 410, Acts of the 79th Legislature, Regular 
Session, 2005, effective September 1, 2005, are amended to read as 
follows:
	(a)  The community property interest [A spouse who is a 
participant] in a defined benefit retirement plan is an amount 
equal to the product of the amount a participant [has a separate 
property interest in the monthly accrued benefit the] spouse would 
have the [had a] right to receive on normal retirement age, as 
defined by the plan, if the participant spouse had terminated 
employment on the date of dissolution of the marriage, multiplied 
by a percentage determined by dividing the number of months of 
participation in the plan during the marriage by the number of 
months of participation in the plan as of the date of dissolution of 
the marriage.  The resulting amount shall be determined as of the 
time of dissolution [as] of the [date of] marriage[,] regardless of 
whether the participant spouse's right to the benefit is [had] 
vested and without regard to the percentage of vesting, if any.  The 
community property interest includes post-dissolution plan 
adjustments and cost-of-living adjustments in a proportion equal to 
the amount of the community property interest in relation to the 
amount of the total benefit.
	(b)  The separate [community] property interest in a defined 
benefit plan is the portion of the benefit that is not community 
property under Subsection (a) [shall be determined as if the spouse 
began to participate in the plan on the date of marriage and ended 
that participation on the date of dissolution or termination of the 
marriage, regardless of whether the benefit had vested].
	SECTION 2.  The change in law made by this Act applies:                        
		(1)  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;  and
		(2)  to the estate of a person who dies on or after the 
effective date of this Act.
	SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2005, if it 
receives a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each 
house, as provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.  
If this Act does not receive the vote necessary for effect on that 
date, this Act takes effect November 1, 2005.