Texas Homestead Law Explained: Protections Every Homeowner Should Know
Texas protects a homestead “from forced sale, for the payment of all debts” except the eight categories in Article XVI, § 50(a) of its Constitution. The limit is land, not dollars: 10 acres in a city, town or village; 200 rural acres for a family, 100 for a single adult (Property Code § 41.002).
This page covers that creditor rule only. The property-tax exemption under Tax Code § 11.13 is a separate benefit, covered in How to File a Homestead Exemption in Texas.
Section 50(a): the only debts that can force a sale
The Constitution protects “the homestead of a family, or of a single adult person.” The text below is § 50(a) as it stands after the amendment the official history note dates Nov. 7, 2017. Items (1) through (5), (7) and (8) are quoted in full.
- “the purchase money thereof, or a part of such purchase money;”
- “the taxes due thereon;”
- “an owelty of partition imposed against the entirety of the property by a court order or by a written agreement of the parties to the partition, including a debt of one spouse in favor of the other spouse resulting from a division or an award of a family homestead in a divorce proceeding;”
- “the refinance of a lien against a homestead, including a federal tax lien resulting from the tax debt of both spouses, if the homestead is a family homestead, or from the tax debt of the owner;”
- “work and material used in constructing new improvements thereon, if contracted for in writing, or work and material used to repair or renovate existing improvements thereon if:”
- (A) “the work and material are contracted for in writing, with the consent of both spouses, in the case of a family homestead, given in the same manner as is required in making a sale and conveyance of the homestead;”
- (B) “the contract for the work and material is not executed by the owner or the owner’s spouse before the fifth day after the owner makes written application for any extension of credit for the work and material, unless the work and material are necessary to complete immediate repairs to conditions on the homestead property that materially affect the health or safety of the owner or person residing in the homestead and the owner of the homestead acknowledges such in writing;”
- (C) “the contract for the work and material expressly provides that the owner may rescind the contract without penalty or charge within three days after the execution of the contract by all parties, unless the work and material are necessary to complete immediate repairs to conditions on the homestead property that materially affect the health or safety of the owner or person residing in the homestead and the owner of the homestead acknowledges such in writing; and”
- (D) “the contract for the work and material is executed by the owner and the owner’s spouse only at the office of a third-party lender making an extension of credit for the work and material, an attorney at law, or a title company;”
- A home equity loan or line of credit that meets every condition in § 50(a)(6)(A) through (Q). This item is summarized, not quoted; the conditions include a voluntary lien “with the consent of each owner and each owner’s spouse,” a combined principal balance not above “80 percent of the fair market value of the homestead,” no personal liability “unless the owner or spouse obtained the extension of credit by actual fraud,” foreclosure “only by a court order,” and a limit on fees, other than interest, bona fide discount points and four excluded items (a third-party appraisal, a survey, the state base title-insurance premium and a qualifying title examination report), so that they do not “exceed, in the aggregate, two percent of the original principal amount.” Paragraph (I) is repealed. Read the full text of Article XVI, § 50.
- “a reverse mortgage; or” (§ 50(k) defines it; one condition is that the loan “is made to a person who is or whose spouse is 62 years or older”).
- “the conversion and refinance of a personal property lien secured by a manufactured home to a lien on real property, including the refinance of the purchase price of the manufactured home, the cost of installing the manufactured home on the real property, and the refinance of the purchase price of the real property.”
An ordinary money judgment on an unsecured debt is not on the list. Section 50(c) closes the side door: “No mortgage, trust deed, or other lien on the homestead shall ever be valid unless it secures a debt described by this section,” and “All pretended sales of the homestead involving any condition of defeasance shall be void.”
Consent of the spouse and every co-owner
Under § 50(b), an owner “may not sell or abandon the homestead without the consent of each owner and the spouse of each owner, given in such manner as may be prescribed by law.” Family Code § 5.001 adds that neither spouse “may sell, convey, or encumber the homestead without the joinder of the other spouse except as provided in this chapter or by other rules of law,” whether the home is separate or community property. Property Code § 41.004 repeats the abandonment rule for a married claimant.
Acreage in Article XVI, § 51 and Property Code § 41.002
The Constitution gives the outer limits. A homestead “not in a town or city” is “not more than two hundred acres of land, which may be in one or more parcels, with the improvements thereon.” In a city, town or village it is a “lot or contiguous lots amounting to not more than 10 acres of land,” used “for the purposes of a home, or as both an urban home and a place to exercise a calling or business.”
The statute splits the rural figure. Under Property Code § 41.002(b), a rural homestead is not more than 200 acres “for a family” and not more than 100 acres “for a single, adult person, not otherwise entitled to a homestead,” in each case “in one or more parcels.” The urban cap in § 41.002(a) is 10 acres “which may be in one or more contiguous lots.”
| Claimant | Urban | Rural |
|---|---|---|
| Family | 10 acres, one or more contiguous lots | 200 acres, one or more parcels |
| Single adult not otherwise entitled to a homestead | 10 acres, one or more contiguous lots | 100 acres, one or more parcels |
Urban is a test, not a label. Section 41.002(c) calls a homestead urban if, when the designation is made, it sits “within the limits of a municipality or its extraterritorial jurisdiction or a platted subdivision” and is “served by police protection, paid or volunteer fire protection, and at least three of the following services provided by a municipality or under contract to a municipality”: electric, natural gas, sewer, storm sewer and water. Neither § 51 nor § 41.002 sets a dollar ceiling. Section 41.008 does concede ground to “any federal law that imposes an upper limit on the amount, including the monetary amount or acreage amount,” saying Subchapter A of ch. 41 “prevails to the extent allowed under federal law.”
Designating the homestead at the county clerk
An owner whose land exceeds the cap may pick the protected part. Section 41.005 lets a family designate “not more than 200 acres” of larger rural holdings, a single adult “not more than 100 acres,” and either one “not more than 10 acres” of larger urban lots. The instrument must be signed and acknowledged, filed “with the county clerk of the county in which all or part of the property is located,” and must contain a property description, a statement that it is designated as the homestead, the current record title holder and, for rural land, “the number of acres designated and, if there is more than one survey, the number of acres in each.”
Two default rules sit behind that. Under § 41.005(e), property on which the owner receives a tax exemption under Tax Code § 11.43 “is considered to have been designated” when it is listed as the owner’s residence homestead on the county’s most recent appraisal roll; a designation made under § 41.005(c) or Subchapter B for a different property prevails over it. And if no designation exists when a writ of execution is issued, § 41.005(f) sends the choice to Subchapter B. There the judgment creditor may serve a notice to designate, and the debtor may file a written designation with a plat “at any time before 10 a.m. on the Monday next after the expiration of 20 days after the date of service” (§ 41.022). Miss it and the court, on the creditor’s motion filed within 90 days after the writ issues, appoints a commissioner, whose fees are taxed against the debtor (§ 41.023), and the officer may sell the excess (§ 41.024).
Renting it out, selling it, dying in it
- Temporary rental. Section 51: “any temporary renting of the homestead shall not change the character of the same, when no other homestead has been acquired.” Property Code § 41.003 says the same.
- Sale proceeds. Section 41.001(c): “The homestead claimant’s proceeds of a sale of a homestead are not subject to seizure for a creditor’s claim for six months after the date of sale.”
- Death of a spouse. Section 52: the homestead passes like other real property, “but it shall not be partitioned among the heirs of the deceased during the lifetime of the surviving husband or wife, or so long as the surviver may elect to use or occupy the same as a homestead,” or while a court permits the guardian of the minor children to occupy it. (“Surviver” is the spelling in the official text.)
More on askdoss
- Homestead exemption by state
- Evaluating an HOA before buying in Texas
- Texas seller disclosure requirements
- HELOC vs home equity loan
Questions Texas owners ask about creditor protection
Does the homestead survive if I put the house in a living trust?
Yes, if the trust is a “qualifying trust” under Property Code § 41.0021 and the settlor or beneficiary who occupies and uses the home also owns a beneficial interest in it through that trust (§ 41.0021(b)). The instrument must give that person one of three rights: to revoke the trust without the consent of anyone other than a spouse who is also a settlor; to exercise an inter vivos general power of appointment over the property; or to use and occupy it as a principal residence rent free, except for taxes and costs the instrument specifies, for life, for the shorter of life or a term of years, or until the trust is revoked or terminated by a recorded instrument or court order. The trustee’s deed or court order must describe the property and be recorded in the county’s real property records. A married person transferring the home must have the spouse join as Family Code ch. 5 requires.
I sold my house. Can a judgment creditor take the money before I buy again?
Not for six months after the date of sale; § 41.001(c) exempts the claimant’s sale proceeds from seizure for a creditor’s claim during that period.
I run a business out of my house in town. Is it still a homestead?
The Constitution allows it. Section 51 covers an urban lot used “as both an urban home and a place to exercise a calling or business,” and § 41.002(a) repeats that wording, still within the 10-acre cap.
Can a contractor foreclose a lien for a remodel?
Only if the job meets § 50(a)(5), item 5 in the list above. New construction needs a written contract. Repair or renovation needs all of conditions (A) through (D), and the five-day and three-day conditions drop away only for immediate repairs to conditions that materially affect health or safety, acknowledged by the owner in writing. Under § 50(c), a lien that does not secure a debt described in § 50 is not valid.