In dealing with business and divorce, the very first thing that you need to do is to determine if your business interests qualify as separate property or as community property for the purposes of Texas law. Under Texas law (Texas Family Code Sec. 3.001), separate property is property that was owned or claimed by a spouse prior to the start of their marriage. Community property (joint property) is all of the property that was obtained or claimed after the start of the marriage. With limited exceptions, separate property generally stays with the original owner. In other words, separate property is not subject to the asset division. That being said, each spouse will have an equal claim to the value of the community property.