Denton County · Board Certified in Family Law
Carrollton Property Division Attorney
Dividing a Texas marital estate is two jobs in sequence: decide what is in the estate, then decide who gets it. Most of the money is won or lost in the first one.
Property Division for Carrollton Families
Carrollton is a tri-county city spanning Denton, Dallas and Collin counties with a substantial small-business ownership rate. For property division purposes that matters in a specific way: a Carrollton case is filed in Denton County, heard by Denton County judges, and governed by Denton County's local rules and standing orders. Carrollton sits in three counties, so the filing county turns entirely on the home address.
The courthouse is at Denton County Courts Building, 1450 E. McKinney St., Denton, TX 76209. Families here are usually served by Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD, which is the practical anchor for school-calendar questions in a possession schedule — exchanges, spring break, and the start and end of the summer period all key off the district calendar rather than a generic date.
Property division for Carrollton families usually turns on the home and the retirement accounts, in that order. Where a residence was bought before the marriage or with inherited funds, the characterization work (Tex. Fam. Code § 3.001) has to happen before anyone argues about percentages.
Because Carrollton is a city with an unusually high rate of small-business ownership, marital estates here more often include an employer equity plan, a closely held business interest, or a second property. Each of those has to be valued before it can be divided just and right (Tex. Fam. Code § 7.001), and valuation is where the timeline of a Denton County case usually goes.
Filing in Denton County. Texas requires that one spouse have lived in the county of filing for the 90 days before the petition (Tex. Fam. Code § 6.301), on top of six months' residency in the state. A recent move between Denton County and a neighbouring county can reset that 90-day clock even though nothing about the marriage changed.
Characterization comes before division
A Texas court divides community property. It has no authority to divest a spouse of separate property. So the threshold question on every asset is what it is — community (Tex. Fam. Code § 3.002) or separate (Tex. Fam. Code § 3.001).
The presumption favors community, and it is rebuttable only by clear and convincing evidence. That standard is why characterization is a documents case. The house you bought before the marriage is separate; the community's payments against its mortgage during the marriage may create a reimbursement claim. The brokerage account you brought in is separate until deposits and withdrawals mix it so thoroughly that tracing fails, at which point the whole account is treated as community.
Retirement, equity compensation and the parts people forget
Retirement accounts earned during the marriage are community property even though only one name is on them. Dividing a qualified plan takes a separate order — a qualified domestic relations order — entered alongside the decree, and a decree that awards a share without the QDRO to implement it produces a problem years later when the plan administrator declines to pay.
Equity compensation is harder still. Restricted stock and options that were granted during the marriage but vest after it are commonly part community and part separate, apportioned by when the work that earned them was performed. Deferred compensation, unexercised options, stock in a closely held company and the goodwill of a professional practice all require valuation before they can be divided, and valuation is expert work.
Who Handles These Cases
Lisa G. Garza is Board Certified in Family Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and has practiced Texas family law for more than 30 years. The firm represents Carrollton families from offices on the Dallas North Tollway and in McKinney, and appears in Denton County.