Mission, TX Divorce Law Firms & Lawyers

A deed will not absolve you of responsibility for payment of the mortgage.   The mortgage is a matter of contract between the lender and (presumably) you and your ex-wife.   A divorce decree cannot alter that contract because the lender was not a party to the divorce.  When you got divorced, your attorney should have prepared a deed to secure assumption (which, in effect would allow you to foreclose on the house if she doesn't make the mortgage payments).

Because you have a signficant amount of separate property, it would be a good idea to get an attorney to protect your rights. In Texas, all property is presumed to be community property during a divorce, unless that property was obtained by gift, devise or descent and unless it was obtained before the marriage. You would need to produce paperwork showing when you bought your house and cars. You would also need to show when your 401K started and how much it increased in valude during the marriage. Your spouse would be entitled to half of the growth during the marriage, but sometimes, there is no growth or it's so mimimal that the other spouse decides not to go through the trouble and expense of getting their share. Again, the best way to protect your rights is to get an attorney to represent you.

That is a complicated question.  The State of Texas operates under a community property presumption, which means that anything purchased during the marriage is presumed to be community property unless proven otherwise by a party.  It wouldn't matter whether your husband put the property only in his name or in both of your names because the fact that it was purchased during marriage would imply that it is community property.  If your husband has separate assets and purchases the home with those separate assets and he can prove those facts, then it would be beneficial for you to have the home in your name as well for a variety of reasons that are too numerous to list here.  The Court will divide all community property equitably, which may mean half and half, or it may mean something different.  The first question will be whether the home is community property, then, if it is community, the Court will determine how to equitably divide the house and all the other assets.