| 1 | 1 | | 84R2810 JSC-D |
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| 2 | 2 | | By: Dutton H.J.R. No. 47 |
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| 3 | 3 | | |
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| 4 | 4 | | |
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| 5 | 5 | | A JOINT RESOLUTION |
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| 6 | 6 | | proposing a constitutional amendment authorizing a court to |
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| 7 | 7 | | partition the community property and to characterize future |
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| 8 | 8 | | earnings of spouses as separate property on legal separation of the |
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| 9 | 9 | | spouses. |
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| 10 | 10 | | BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
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| 11 | 11 | | SECTION 1. Section 15, Article XVI, Texas Constitution, is |
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| 12 | 12 | | amended to read as follows: |
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| 13 | 13 | | Sec. 15. (a) All property, both real and personal, of a |
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| 14 | 14 | | spouse owned or claimed before marriage, and that acquired |
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| 15 | 15 | | afterward by gift, devise or descent, shall be the separate |
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| 16 | 16 | | property of that spouse; and laws shall be passed more clearly |
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| 17 | 17 | | defining the rights of the spouses, in relation to separate and |
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| 18 | 18 | | community property; provided that persons about to marry and |
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| 19 | 19 | | spouses, without the intention to defraud pre-existing creditors, |
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| 20 | 20 | | may by written instrument from time to time partition between |
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| 21 | 21 | | themselves all or part of their property, then existing or to be |
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| 22 | 22 | | acquired, or exchange between themselves the community interest of |
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| 23 | 23 | | one spouse or future spouse in any property for the community |
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| 24 | 24 | | interest of the other spouse or future spouse in other community |
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| 25 | 25 | | property then existing or to be acquired, whereupon the portion or |
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| 26 | 26 | | interest set aside to each spouse shall be and constitute a part of |
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| 27 | 27 | | the separate property and estate of such spouse or future spouse; |
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| 28 | 28 | | spouses also may from time to time, by written instrument, agree |
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| 29 | 29 | | between themselves that the income or property from all or part of |
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| 30 | 30 | | the separate property then owned or which thereafter might be |
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| 31 | 31 | | acquired by only one of them, shall be the separate property of that |
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| 32 | 32 | | spouse; if one spouse makes a gift of property to the other that |
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| 33 | 33 | | gift is presumed to include all the income or property which might |
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| 34 | 34 | | arise from that gift of property; spouses may agree in writing that |
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| 35 | 35 | | all or part of their community property becomes the property of the |
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| 36 | 36 | | surviving spouse on the death of a spouse; and spouses may agree in |
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| 37 | 37 | | writing that all or part of the separate property owned by either or |
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| 38 | 38 | | both of them shall be the spouses' community property. |
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| 39 | 39 | | (b) In a legal separation proceeding, a court may |
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| 40 | 40 | | permanently partition the community property of the spouses to |
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| 41 | 41 | | provide that the property itself and the future income from that |
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| 42 | 42 | | property is the separate property of a spouse, and may allocate |
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| 43 | 43 | | future earnings of each spouse as the separate property of that |
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| 44 | 44 | | spouse. Laws shall be passed clearly defining the nature of |
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| 45 | 45 | | property on legal separation of the spouses. |
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| 46 | 46 | | SECTION 2. This proposed constitutional amendment shall be |
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| 47 | 47 | | submitted to the voters at an election to be held November 3, 2015. |
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| 48 | 48 | | The ballot shall be printed to permit voting for or against the |
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| 49 | 49 | | proposition: "The constitutional amendment authorizing a court to |
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| 50 | 50 | | partition the community property and to characterize future |
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| 51 | 51 | | earnings of spouses as separate property on legal separation of the |
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| 52 | 52 | | spouses." |
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