Q: House owned by wife. Married in 2009. Live in Texas. Married 16 years. Getting divorced.
I was a silent partner on a note refinance, signed paperwork (I am not on the deed). Replaced appliances, did interior upgrades, etc. Do I have 50% equity in the house?
A:
It depends on whether the house is your wife's separate property or community property. If the house was bought by your wife before your marriage, it is her separate property. If the house was bought by your wife during your marriage, it is community property unless she used entirely her separate property funds and/or her separate property credit to purchase the house or you signed a post-marital partition and exchange agreement.
In no event do you have "50% equity" in the house. If the house is entirely community property, it is subject to a "just and right" division at the time of your divorce. That is not necessarily 50-50. A "just and right" division always depends on the evidence introduced at trial. Generally speaking, if all payments for the house and for maintenance, upkeep, and improvements to the house have been paid out of community funds during the marriage and the parties have lived in the house as their marital residence and there are no other significant assets owned by the spouses, a court will generally order the residence to be sold and the proceeds to be divided equally between the spouses. But, if there are other significant assets, the court may award one spouse the house and other significant assets to the other spouse to roughly equalize the value of the property division between the spouses unless there are reasons for a disproportionate division of the parties' marital estate.
If you used your separate property funds to replace the appliances and do interior upgrades, your separate property estate may be entitled to equitable reimbursement based on the increase in the value of the house as a result of the upgrades.
If you used community property funds to replace the appliances and do interior upgrades and the house is her separate property, the community property estate may be entitled to equitable reimbursement based on the increase in the value of the house as a result of the upgrades.
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