Marriage and Minerals in Texas: Confronting the Community Property Presumption and Potential Improvements in California

Analyzes the current law that practitioners need to know and provides recommendations on potential improvements with regards to Community Property law and Texas land and mineral rights. Part II expands on the background of Texas as a community property state and provides an outline of the analysis required to determine marital property rights. Part III surveys the treatment of mineral interests under the analytical framework used to determine marital property rights and explains judicial trends of Texas courts characterizing marital property over time. Part IV uses the Texas Supreme Court case Pearson v. Fillingim to illustrate the problems caused by the community property presumption in Texas and offers potential improvements based on the burden of proof in California. Part V concludes with a recap of the community property distinctions between Texas and California and stresses the importance of applying an equitable burden of proof in disputes over the characterization of mineral and royalty interests.