Legal Question in Family Law in Texas

Assuming that you and your husband were married to each other when you purchased the house and that the down payment came from community resources (e.g. money saved from wages earned during the marriage), then the house is 100% community property and is divisible by the trial court.

In divorce, we take ALL the assets and net them against ALL the debts and try to get the bottom line to 50:50, unless there is a good reason to split the estate differently. If the only asset you have is the home and the only debt you have is the home mortgage, then, yes, he'd be entitled to 50% of the equity in the home.

HOWEVER, you have to know how much equity is really in the home. Say the home appraises for $150,000 and you owe $80,000 on it. Most people think that the equity in the home is $70,000 (150-80 = 70). However, if you sell the home for $150,000, you won't get $70,000 at closing. There are closing fees, title fees, real estate agent commissions, etc. to pay. So what I recommend is going to a title company and asking them do draft a pro forma HUD-1 based on a sale price of $150,000, payoff of $80,000, and 6% in real estate commissions. The title company will figure the taxes, fees, etc. and show that the real equity in the house is probably closer to $63,000 or so. That's the number you want to split.

Hope that helps.