Can My Money Be Takwn Before Divorce Is Evwn Filed?

Deciding to end a marriage can give rise to a wide range of emotions, including resentment.

Unfortunately, these feelings can pb divorcing spouses to do things that they would not commonly be capable of, such as hiding or wasting marital assets.

While this type of deport is strictly forbidden during divorce, it can be more than hard to agree someone accountable for wasting marital assets before a couple really files for divorce.

Fortunately, it is possible, then if you lot and your spouse are because divorce and you believe that he or she is attempting to transfer coin before divorce, it is disquisitional to contact an experienced Texas property division lawyer who can help protect your interests.

Marital Property vs. Separate Property

Texas is a community property state, meaning that divorcing couples must divide all of their marital property equally. Marital belongings includes all assets that were acquired past a couple after wedlock.

Separate holding is made up of the assets that were brought into the union by the parties. In most cases, separate property will remain the sole property of the original owner after divorce, only only if they were not commingled with marital avails.

Transferring Marital Assets

Unfortunately, in an attempt to avoid splitting marital assets equally, some spouses will attempt to transfer or spend those assets, sometimes earlier the parties have even filed for divorce. This is known as the dissipation of marital assets.

This is unlawful under country police, which prohibits divorcing spouses from intentionally mishandling, hiding, or wasting marital property. This includes selling or spending avails and funds, as well every bit transferring property to a third party without the other spouse's consent.

When a person is engaged in this type of conduct during divorce, he or she can be held in contempt of courtroom. Judges also accept the option of freezing a couples' assets, or even awarding the other spouse a larger portion of the marital assets.

When a couple has yet to file for divorce, nonetheless, it can exist more difficult to hold the at-error spouse accountable for transferring marital property.

Did your spouse transfer marital belongings?
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Challenging Expenditures

When couples file for divorce in Travis County (and in many other counties in the state), courts automatically grant temporary restraining orders that prohibit the parties from wasting, hiding, or transferring marital avails.

Although these orders are granted immediately upon filing for divorce, in some cases, it is already too late, as a spouse has transferred valuable belongings to someone else before the filing fifty-fifty took place.

Fortunately, it is possible to challenge these types of expenditures, as many courts are willing to assess transactions that took place before divorce proceedings were commenced if those transactions occurred at a time when the matrimony was already undergoing an irrevocable breakdown.

The burden of proving that an expenditure of community assets did not qualify equally waste material volition and so fall on the party who transferred the belongings.

Even gifts to a couple'south children that took place around the fourth dimension of separation can plant dissipation if those gifts far exceed those made during the years that preceded the marriage's breakdown.

Ultimately, when determining whether a spouse wasted assets in transferring them prior to divorce, courts will assess whether there is evidence that:

The party who transferred the property did so in contemplation of divorce; or
The spouse who transferred the belongings did and so with the intent to deprive his or her spouse of an equal share in that belongings.

In this way, spouses are discouraged from challenging transactions that took place well before the union's breakdown in an effort to proceeds an reward during the holding sectionalisation process.

Instead, courts will focus on the fourth dimension in the couple's union when it became clear that the union was in jeopardy and that whatsoever major transfers were being made in anticipation of separation and divorce.

Legal Remedies

When a courtroom determines that ane spouse attempted to deprive the other of his or her off-white share of the couple's marital property past transferring it to a third party prior to divorce, it tin take a few different actions, including:

Offering the innocent spouse a greater portion of the remaining marital assets;
Property the at-fault spouse in contempt of court; or
Freezing the couple'due south remaining assets to prevent further waste.

For assist determining whether any of these legal remedies could apply in your own case, please phone call our legal team today.

A Dedicated Texas Belongings Division Lawyer

To speak with dedicated holding division lawyer Ben Carrasco nigh holding your spouse accountable for wasting marital assets, please telephone call the Constabulary Role of Ben Carrasco, PLLC at (512) 320-9126 today.