Legal Question in Family Law in Texas

Community property

The short answert is not much. Under Texas community property law everything aquired during the marriage, other that which is aquired by gift, inheritance or decent(if some one dies with out a will and you get under the law) is presumed to be community property. The only things you can do is:1. Use tracable seperate property to start the business(ie a gift of money from your family) keep VERY good records and pay your self market wages. The wages will be community property but the business should be seperate.2. Reach an agreement with your spouse and divide (Partition) your community estate.Hope this helps.

Community property and divorce

The answers to your questions are "maybe" and "yes". Any business begun during marriage will be community property unless capitalized with separate property, and even then, depending on the form of the business (sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, etc.) part or all of the business may be community. Community property is divisible on divorce, although not necessarily divided. On divorce, you might very well be awarded the business in its entirety as part of your share of the community estate. You can reach an agreement on this point with your spouse with a marital agreement in the property form. It should include language abandoning "reimbursement" claims for time, toil, talent and effort.