Texas Attorney General Opinion: JM-126 Page: 2 of 5
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Mr. W. G. Kirklin - Page 2 (JM-126)
Bank, 259 F.2d 231, 239 (5th Cir. 1958); Vallone v. Vallone, 644
S.W.2d 455, 450 (Tex. 1982); Maben v. Maben, 574 S.W.2d 229, 232 (Tex.
Civ. App. - Fort Worth 1978, no writ).
Under Texas law each spouse owns a present, vested, undivided
one-half interest in all community property, but the husband is the
sole authorized manager of the general community property. However,
the wife has managerial power over a special community composed of her
income and the income of her separate property. Free v. Bland, 369
U.S. 663 (1962), conformed to in 359 S.W.2d 297 (Tex. 1962); Chase
Manhattan Bank, supra. The Texas Family Code, section 5.22, provides
for separate management of certain community property:
(a) During marriage, each spouse has the sole
management, control, and disposition of
the community property that he or she
would have owned if single, including but
not limited to:
(1) personal earnings;
(2) revenue from separate property;
(3) recoveries for personal injuries;
and
(4) the increase and mutations of, and
the revenue from, all property
subject to his or her sole
management, control and disposition.
The court in Estate of Wyly v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue,
610 F.2d 1282, 1288 (5th Cir. 1980), construed subsection (a)(2) of
section 5.22 to create a "special community" or "sole management
community" interest in the earning spouse. The other spouse,
receiving a community property interest by operation of law, "has only
'ownership' in an almost abstract sense, with no concomitant direct
management rights." The court noted that a spouse's management powers
over his or her "sole management" portion of community property are
described in exactly the same terms which section 5.21 uses for
separate property. Thus, in Texas,
a spouse is able, in the absence of fraud, to deal
with sole management community as he or she might
with his or her own separate property, free from
any participation, consent, or interference by the
other spouse.
Id. at 1289.p. 534
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Texas. Attorney-General's Office. Texas Attorney General Opinion: JM-126, text, February 21, 1984; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth272566/m1/2/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.