82R16121 JSC-F
By: Thompson H.B. No. 908
Substitute the following for H.B. No. 908:
By: Hartnett C.S.H.B. No. 908
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
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.