Homesteads

1. Homesteads • The homestead provisions set out in the Texas Constitution create an exemption that precludes the seizure or forced sale of property. Since the homestead interest is considered an estate in land, any legal process concerning the homestead involves the title to real estate.

2. The practical protections of the homestead laws prevent any creditor (except for the mortgage holder, a taxing authority, or the holder of a note created for a home improvement loan) from forcing the sale of the homestead to satisfy nonpayment of a debt. • It is useful, both for ad valorem tax purposes and for protection from creditors, to file an affidavit designating the homestead in the real property records of the county in which the property is located However, for creditor protection, this is not strictly necessary.

3. Types of Homesteads • Urban Homestead • Rural Homestead

4. Urban Homestead • An urban homestead is a homestead located within a city, town or village. Although the exemption for an urban homestead is ten acres, it may consist of one or more lots that are either contiguous or non-contiguous. In some cases a claimant may own more than ten acres within an urban area. However, this fact does preclude the property from being claimed as homestead, it merely limits the amount of property that can be claimed.

5. There are two types of urban homestead: residential and business. The residential homestead is the property which a party claims as his residence and can include contiguous or non-contiguous lots.

6. Rural Homestead The Constitution sets out that a homestead not in a city, town or village may consist of not more than 200 acres of land which may be in one or more parcels of land. By statute, the 200 acre exemption is limited to families while single adults who are not a member of a family are limited to 100 acres.