One of the major components of a Texas divorce is the property settlement. Texas is a community property state, which means that the judge will order a division of the divorcing couple’s marital property that is “just and right”. Of course, a just and right property division can take many forms, including a division of assets and debts that is not equal. This may leave many people wondering how assets can be justly and rightly divided in an uneven matter.

The reason why some property divisions are even while others are lopsided is that marital property is not divided in a vacuum. In other words, the circumstances of the divorce matter. A lot. Factors like whether one spouse is a stay at home parent, the age of the parties’ children if they have any, whether there is an innocent spouse and a spouse who is at fault for the failure of the marriage, whether there are differences in the spouses’ health status or age, and more are all up for consideration when a judge is deciding how to distribute a divorcing couple’s marital property.

There are also other principles that judges consider when they design property distributions. The transfer or division of some types of assets can have tax consequences, so those must be factored in when considering where those particular assets will go. Also, since the marital estate includes both assets and debts, the judge must decide how to divide both the positive and the negative aspects of the couple’s marital property.

The overall amount of marital property also has an effect on how it will be divided, with couples with large marital estates often getting a closer to equal distribution than those with fewer resources to divide. Some types of assets are also difficult or impractical to divide, such as businesses that are owned and operated by one spouse. When there are assets that are not easily divisible, judges often design property settlements that grant the difficult to divide asset to the spouse to whom it is most useful while giving a group of assets which, when taken together, have a value that is close to that of the difficult to divide asset to the other spouse.

If you have questions or concerns about property settlements, a Texas divorce attorney can help you find the answers that you need. Whether you want to know more about property settlements or you have a question about child custody, an attorney can help you understand what your options are. Texas Family Law Attorney Alex Tyra can tell you more about how marital property is divided in Texas, as well as how you and your soon to be former spouse may be able to design a property settlement that meets both of your needs without asking a judge to divide your property for you. If you would like to learn more about property settlements or any other aspect of your Texas divorce, please call us today, at (903) 753-7499.