Did your spouse drain the financial accounts? If you are divorcing in Texas a new law may help you if your spouse manipulated the community estate. The Texas Family Code (TFC) section 7.009 provides new relief measures that can be ordered by the court when a spouse commits fraud on the community estate.

Fraud on the community estate occurs when a spouse acts with misconduct that affects the community estate. Examples include when a spouse drains the financial accounts and goes on a spending spree to Las Vegas to deprive the other spouse of appropriate funds, transfers funds to another account for their own use, transfers property into the name of a family member or friend, or gives the community money to a girlfriend or boyfriend.

Prior to this law, if the funds were gone, it was hard to receive fairness in the property division. TFC 7.009 provides new tools. If it is determined in court that a spouse has committed fraud on the community, the court can "reconstitute" the estate to the level it existed before the fraud. The court can divide the "reconstituted" estate in a manner it deems just and right. For example, if the estate had a value of $100,000 and a spouse wasted $50,000 by fraud, there would only be half of the original estate remaining to divide. However, under the new statute, the court can "reconstitute" the estate back to the value of $100,000 and provide the wronged spouse the remaining $50,000. If the court deems that a just and right division would have provided the wronged spouse 60% of the value of the estate, then the court can award the sum of $50,000 of the reconstituted estate and grant a judgment for the remaining $10,000 of the award.

It may seem like there is no difference. However, if a spouse is going to try to commit fraud by moving money out of the estate, that spouse may be simply moving only the money that spouse would have received in any case and may still have a judgment against them. Fraudulent conduct, by itself, can be a claim for punishment by the court. Such conduct, if properly claimed, may be justification for additional awards. A good family law attorney may be helpful in assessing your case and protecting your rights.