Bill Text: TX HB908 | 2011-2012 | 82nd Legislature | Engrossed
NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: Relating to the division of community property on dissolution of marriage.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 2-0)
Status: (Passed) 2011-06-17 - Effective on 9/1/11 [HB908 Detail]
Download: Texas-2011-HB908-Engrossed.html
Bill Title: Relating to the division of community property on dissolution of marriage.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 2-0)
Status: (Passed) 2011-06-17 - Effective on 9/1/11 [HB908 Detail]
Download: Texas-2011-HB908-Engrossed.html
82R16121 JSC-F | ||
By: Thompson | H.B. No. 908 |
|
||
|
||
relating to the division of community property on dissolution of | ||
marriage. | ||
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
SECTION 1. Chapter 7, Family Code, is amended by adding | ||
Section 7.009 to read as follows: | ||
Sec. 7.009. FRAUD ON THE COMMUNITY; DIVISION AND | ||
DISPOSITION OF RECONSTITUTED ESTATE. (a) In this section: | ||
(1) "Accounting" means a written explanation and | ||
designation of all money or other assets spent or transferred, | ||
including: | ||
(A) the amount of money or other assets spent or | ||
transferred; | ||
(B) the date of each expenditure or transfer; | ||
(C) the recipient of each expenditure or | ||
transfer; and | ||
(D) the location of the money or assets spent or | ||
transferred. | ||
(2) "Reconstituted estate" means the total value of | ||
the community estate that would exist if an actual or constructive | ||
fraud on the community had not occurred. | ||
(b) A spouse commits actual fraud on the community if the | ||
spouse, with dishonesty of purpose or intent to deceive, spends or | ||
transfers community property for the primary purpose of depriving | ||
the other spouse of the use and enjoyment of the assets involved in | ||
the transaction. | ||
(c) A spouse commits constructive fraud on the community if | ||
the spouse, regardless of intent, breaches a legal or equitable | ||
duty owed to the other spouse or to the community estate by spending | ||
or transferring community property, and the conduct deceives the | ||
other spouse or violates a confidence that exists as a result of the | ||
marriage. | ||
(d) Acts by a spouse that constitute actual or constructive | ||
fraud on the community include: | ||
(1) unfairly disposing of or encumbering the other | ||
spouse's interest in community property or unfairly incurring | ||
community debt without the other spouse's knowledge or consent; | ||
(2) wrongfully conveying property from the community | ||
estate without the other spouse's knowledge or consent; | ||
(3) negligently, or with dishonesty of purpose or | ||
intent to deceive, wasting community assets by depriving the | ||
community estate of assets to the detriment of the other spouse; and | ||
(4) failing, without good cause, to provide to the | ||
other spouse an accounting of money or other assets that have been | ||
transferred from the community estate without the consent of the | ||
other spouse, if the other spouse contests the fairness of a | ||
transfer of the money or assets. | ||
(e) If the trier of fact determines that a spouse has | ||
committed actual or constructive fraud on the community, the court | ||
shall: | ||
(1) calculate the value by which the community estate | ||
was depleted as a result of the fraud on the community and calculate | ||
the amount of the reconstituted estate; and | ||
(2) divide the value of the reconstituted estate | ||
between the parties in a manner the court deems just and right. | ||
(f) In making a just and right division of the reconstituted | ||
estate under Section 7.001, the court may grant any legal or | ||
equitable relief necessary to accomplish a just and right division, | ||
including: | ||
(1) awarding to the wronged spouse an appropriate | ||
share of the community estate remaining after the actual or | ||
constructive fraud on the community; | ||
(2) awarding a money judgment in favor of the wronged | ||
spouse against the spouse who committed the actual or constructive | ||
fraud on the community; or | ||
(3) awarding to the wronged spouse both a money | ||
judgment and an appropriate share of the community estate. | ||
SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies 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. | ||
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2011. |