There’s more to life than money, stuff, property, etc. If you have kids, you know this to be an ironclad rule. If you don’t have kids, you probably still have aspects of your life that are more important to you than your “stuff.” However, none of this is to say that your property is not essential. Suppose you are to the point in your case where a settlement has not been reached on issues regarding property which means that your only recourse is to prepare for a trial. Most divorces are decided by a “bench” trial by a judge rather than a jury trial, as you may have seen on television or in the movies.
In yesterday’s blog post, we discussed in some detail what it means to live in a community property state, as Texas is. One topic that is always interesting to spend some time on is how a judge in your case would apply the community property laws of Texas to your facts and circumstances. If you read enough blog posts about this subject, you may have been led to believe that community property means that there will be an absolute 50/50 split of all the community property in your married life. That, however, is not the case necessarily.
Today we will go over what a division of your community estate could look like and will get into a subject that most people assume they know about when they don’t. That subject is what the phrase “equitable distribution” means. Here’s a hint: equity does not necessarily mean equal.
How will a judge split up your community estate?
Marriage is a joint venture between you and your spouse. Each of you has contributed (or detracted from it) in specific ways that, in the end, create a pie that is known as your community estate. For some of you, your pie will be relatively large that needs to be split up in the event of a divorce. For others, yours will be on the small side. Ultimately the size of your pie is just one factor that a judge will look to in deciding how your marital estate needs to be split between you and your spouse.
Equity is essential in this equation. What is equity, and what does it mean, though? As I stated early, equity does not mean equality in all scenarios. If neither you nor your spouse did much of anything wrong to one another and earned similar incomes and have similar prospects for future income, then your share of the community estate may very well be 50%. However, most divorces are not like this, and other circumstances will occur.
Equity means fairness much more than it implies equality. Justice requires a judgment, an interpretation hopefully based more on objective circumstances than subjective opinions, but a judgment nonetheless. Fortunately, the person making that judgment is a judge, which works out.
The benefit of this sort of breakdown is that it does not rely too much on the law or your circumstances. The best case for you and your spouse is to have your topic assigned to a judge who can apply the law in ways that make sense for you and your family. The benefit of settling your case before trial was that you could have had total say-so over the outcome, as far as you and your spouse are concerned. That is no longer possible as you have a third-party decider (the judge) who has not stepped in to usurp that role. However, that’s not to say that a judge can’t be objective, fair, and balanced.
Factors that a family law court judge will apply in your divorce to divide property
Without further adieu, let’s get into the factors that a judge will weigh to determine how community property will be divided in your divorce.
The future income potential of you and your spouse will be examined. Say that you are a physician who has the potential to earn $250,000 per year for the next thirty years of your life. This should allow you to live an extraordinary life, save for retirement, give to charity, etc., to the degree that most of us will never achieve in our professional lives. Your spouse, however, is a stay-at-home parent who worked evenings waiting tables before you had kids to support you and the family while you attended medical school. Now you are divorcing, and your spouse is worried that she will be in trouble financially due to your divorce.
A secondary point to this factor that I would like to make is that your spouse’s services as a homemaker in the above example will not go unnoticed by most judges. It is essential to keep your home in excellent condition, ensure the kids get to school and do well in their studies, and everything else associated with being a homemaker. If you disagree, consider how much it would cost to pay for daycare, cleaning, cooking, and other services your spouse would provide. I’m willing to bet that the costs would equal the salary that your spouse could earn had she chosen to work rather than stay at home to help the family in that way.
In most circumstances, your spouse need not worry because this is a classic example of how a judge will analyze your and your spouse’s earning potential to determine how to split marital property. If all other factors are equal, future income capacity could tip the scales in this example towards awarding a greater than fifty percent share of your marital estate (called a disproportionate share) to your spouse.
What separate property do you own versus what particular property does your spouse own?
A similar analysis will be done regarding this factor as we saw applied in the above example regarding future income capacity. Suppose your spouse inherited a bunch of money during your marriage and came into the marriage with a lot in the way of the separate property. In that case, you may be in line for receiving a disproportionate share of the community estate.
Did you or your spouse spend time wasting community resources through your deviant behavior?
Did you splurge money into ill-fated investments without the consent of your spouse? Did you have multiple affairs where it was proven that you bought expensive gifts and trips for your paramour? Did you and your spouse have to take out loans to pay for your child’s college expenses because your lousy money habits led to you all not being able to save sufficiently? If so, this could lead your spouse to have a solid chance of receiving a greater than fifty percent share of your community estate.
Finally, fault grounds will play a role in your property division. There are several specific faults that you can cite in your petition for divorce as to why you and your spouse ultimately split up. Maybe it was domestic violence, infidelity, abandonment, or any of the other fault grounds listed in the statutes that caused you to file for divorce from your spouse. If you provide sufficient evidence to prove those grounds to the judge, you are likely in line for a “good” outcome when dividing up property.
Questions about today’s blog post? Contact the Law Office of Bryan Fagan
If you have any questions about the material that we shared with you today, please do not hesitate to contact the Law Office of Bryan Fagan. Our licensed family law attorneys offer free-of-charge consultations six days a week here in our office. These consultations are an excellent opportunity for us to answer your questions and address the issues involved in your divorce directly. Thank you for your time, and we hope to see you again tomorrow here on our blog.
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Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC | Spring Divorce Attorneys
The Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC routinely handles matters that affect children and families. If you have questions regarding divorce, it’s important to speak with one of our Spring, TX Divorce Attorneys right away to protect your rights.
Our divorce attorneys in Spring TX are skilled at listening to your goals during this trying process and developing a strategy to meet those goals. Contact the Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC by calling (281) 810-9760 or submit your contact information in our online form. The Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC handles Divorce cases in Spring, Texas, Cypress, Spring, Klein, Humble, Kingwood, Tomball, The Woodlands, the FM 1960 area, and surrounding areas, including Harris County, Montgomery County, Liberty County, Chambers County, Galveston County, Brazoria County, Fort Bend County, and Waller County.
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