Legal Question in Family Law in Texas

Generally speaking, everything in Texas is community property -- debts as well as assets.

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The form of the business does not control the characterization of the property.

If you are married, all property is presumed to be community property. However, community property does not include property acquired before the marriage. gifts, or inheritances during the marriage. However your son must be able to prove the origin of the property to show it is not community property.

Another exception to the community property rule are certain entitlements. If your son were receiving disability payments or social security payments, the right to future payments would not be considered community property.

Generally compensation received during a marriage would be community property.

If your son established the business before the marriage, the business would not be community property. However depending upon the form of the business this may be more or less difficult to prove.

If the business were a corporation, the shares of stock your son owned prior to the marriage would clearly be separate property.

However if the business were a sole proprietorship, your son would have to separate the assets acquired before the marriage and those acquired after the marriage.

Another exception to the community property rule is tracing. If you gave your son $100,000 and with that $100,000 he purchased a new business, that new business would be separate property - because separate property (the $100,000 gift) was used to purchase the business.

However, there is no such thing as community debt. Your son is only responsible for debts that he has agreed to pay. If his wife ran up a big bill on her credit card, as long as son did not use the card, or sign the application, it is not his debt with one exception:

Spouses are responsible for debts incurred to purchase necessaries (food, clothing, and shelter) which are incurred by the other spouse. So if wife runs up a big credit card bill consisting of rent, grocery bills, and clothes, your son would be responsible.

Other items, depending on the circumstances have been held to be necessaries.

Your son needs an experienced Family Law attorney to help him navigate this maze.