Division of Property

Texas Community Property and Property Division Lawyer

Property division is an element of family law that can change the complexion of a divorce. Disputes over assets can become contentious and can take a divorce out of mediation and into litigation. No matter what the forum is, the Law Offices of J. Gregory Whitten in McKinney, Texas will represent you and your rights when it comes to marital property division.

When a husband and wife divorce, many times the most difficult issues to resolve are who gets what property. In Texas there is separate property and community property.

Separate property is generally defined as property that is owned or claimed by a spouse before marriage, or property acquired by the spouse during marriage by gift, inheritance, and the recovery for personal injuries sustained by the spouse during marriage.

Community property is generally defined as all property (other than separate property) that is acquired by either spouse during marriage. This includes the earnings of you and your spouse, the “things” bought from the earnings of you and/or your spouse, the retirement plans of you and your spouse, and other investments and things purchased with you and/or your spouse’s earnings.

In a divorce, the Court must divide on a just and equitable basis the parties’ community property.

Prenuptial agreements and postnuptial agreements can go a long way to prevent a battle or make a complex process easier. Equitable property division is just that; an equal amount of finances, assets, and money from retirement plans going to each of the spouses that are divorcing. The goal is for both parties to be open, honest, and forthcoming about what they have in the way of marital property.

At The Law Offices of J. Gregory Whitten, we try to keep property division matters from deteriorating into a fight over assets and money. However, we are dedicated to our clients and will take any family law matters into litigation if that is the only way to get to achieve the best results for our clients.

In addition to his legal experience in this area, property division attorney J. Gregory Whitten teams with various experts to determine what assets are marital property, what assets are individual property, and what, if any, assets or finances are hidden. Forensic accountants can be an invaluable resource in locating valuable property and bank accounts hidden by one of the spouses to avoid property division.

For more information or to schedule an appointment with an experienced lawyer regarding property division and asset distribution, please contact us.