Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Texas

Re: Boyfriend holds back money

Your "boyfriend" sounds like a creep - no wonder you want to return to your home country. Well, enough of that. Texas is a state that upholds "common law marriage." This means that if you two "held yourself out" (basically, represented to the public) as being husband and wife, and conducted your activities together as if you were husband and wife, then the law might see you as husband and wife. If so, this could possibly complicate your situation because your boyfriend might try to claim that the money belongs to both of you. However, this is about the only way I can see that he could have any claim on your money. This sort of claim should fail because court settlements are typically treated as belonging to the individual - whether or not they're married. Hence, you should be able to overcome such a claim by your boyfriend very easily. Now, if you owed him some money, he might try to claim that holding your money is an "offset" against what you owe him. But, you didn't give any facts like that. All in all, get with a lawyer you trust and have the lawyer first write a letter to your boyfriend. If that doesn't work, take him to court. Hope this helps you.