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A JOINT RESOLUTION
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proposing a constitutional amendment authorizing a court to |
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partition the community property and to characterize future |
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earnings of spouses as separate property on legal separation of the |
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spouses. |
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BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
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SECTION 1. Section 15, Article XVI, Texas Constitution, is |
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amended to read as follows: |
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Sec. 15. (a) All property, both real and personal, of a |
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spouse owned or claimed before marriage, and that acquired |
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afterward by gift, devise or descent, shall be the separate |
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property of that spouse; and laws shall be passed more clearly |
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defining the rights of the spouses, in relation to separate and |
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community property; provided that persons about to marry and |
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spouses, without the intention to defraud pre-existing creditors, |
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may by written instrument from time to time partition between |
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themselves all or part of their property, then existing or to be |
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acquired, or exchange between themselves the community interest of |
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one spouse or future spouse in any property for the community |
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interest of the other spouse or future spouse in other community |
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property then existing or to be acquired, whereupon the portion or |
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interest set aside to each spouse shall be and constitute a part of |
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the separate property and estate of such spouse or future spouse; |
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spouses also may from time to time, by written instrument, agree |
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between themselves that the income or property from all or part of |
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the separate property then owned or which thereafter might be |
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acquired by only one of them, shall be the separate property of that |
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spouse; if one spouse makes a gift of property to the other that |
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gift is presumed to include all the income or property which might |
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arise from that gift of property; spouses may agree in writing that |
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all or part of their community property becomes the property of the |
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surviving spouse on the death of a spouse; and spouses may agree in |
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writing that all or part of the separate property owned by either or |
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both of them shall be the spouses' community property. |
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(b) In a legal separation proceeding, a court may |
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permanently partition the community property of the spouses to |
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provide that the property itself and the future income from that |
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property is the separate property of a spouse, and may allocate |
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future earnings of each spouse as the separate property of that |
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spouse. Laws shall be passed clearly defining the nature of |
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property on legal separation of the spouses. |
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SECTION 2. This proposed constitutional amendment shall be |
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submitted to the voters at an election to be held November 5, 2013. |
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The ballot shall be printed to permit voting for or against the |
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proposition: "The constitutional amendment authorizing a court to |
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partition the community property and to characterize future |
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earnings of spouses as separate property on legal separation of the |
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spouses." |