Cameron v. Cameron

Summary

The Supreme Court of Texas addresses the division of military retirement pay and U.S. savings bonds in a Texas divorce involving property acquired while the spouses lived in common-law property states. Applying the Uniformed Services Former Spouses' Protection Act, the court permits division of the military retirement pay for periods beginning after June 25, 1981. The court also holds that property acquired during marriage in common-law jurisdictions, except by gift, devise, or descent, may be divided in Texas as marital property and affirms the division of the savings bonds.

Holdings

1. The Uniformed Services Former Spouses' Protection Act permits division of military retirement pay under the law of the forum state for periods beginning after June 25, 1981. Sue Cameron was therefore entitled to 35 percent of the retirement pay beginning on that date, but not for the period from March 29, 1979, through June 25, 1981.
2. Property acquired by either spouse during marriage, other than by gift, devise, or descent, while the spouses were domiciled in a common-law property jurisdiction must be divided upon divorce in Texas in the same manner as community property, regardless of the domicile at acquisition.
3. The savings bonds were marital property subject to division, and the trial court properly awarded Sue Cameron one-half of the bonds.
4. The court rejected the argument that separate personal property should be treated differently from separate real property and stated that separate property is not subject to divestiture on divorce under the Texas Constitution and Family Code.

Questions Presented

1. Whether federal law permitted a Texas divorce court to divide military nondisability retirement pay in light of McCarty v. McCarty and the subsequently enacted Uniformed Services Former Spouses' Protection Act.
2. Whether savings bonds acquired during marriage while the spouses were domiciled in common-law property states were divisible in a Texas divorce proceeding.
3. Whether marital property acquired in a common-law jurisdiction should be treated as the acquiring spouse's separate property under Texas community-property law.
4. Whether Texas Family Code section 3.63 authorized a Texas court to divide common-law marital property acquired during marriage in a manner equivalent to community property.
5. Whether the Texas Constitution prohibited the division of the savings bonds as separate personal property.

Disposition

reversed