Can You Both Claim a Homestead Exemption While Your Divorce Is Still Pending in Texas?

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In Texas, a married couple gets exactly one homestead exemption between them, no matter how many houses either of you is living in. If you moved out of your house in The Woodlands last year and you’re renting an apartment in Conroe while the divorce works through the courts, you are likely paying full, unexempted property taxes on that apartment or your next home, because the exemption usually stays with whichever address already had it filed, and the law does not let a married couple claim a second one.

One Exemption, Two Addresses

Texas Tax Code section 11.13(h) is the rule behind this. It says a married couple is entitled to only one residence homestead exemption between them for a given tax year. It doesn’t matter if you filed separate tax returns last April or if your names are on two different deeds. As long as you are legally married on January 1 of the tax year, your county appraisal district treats you as one household for this purpose, and one household gets one exemption.

That’s true whether it’s Harris County Appraisal District, Montgomery County Appraisal District, or any other CAD in Texas. The rule comes from state law, not a local policy, so moving to a different county does not reset it.

Why the Texas Supreme Court Backed This Up

This is not an obscure code section nobody enforces. In 2023 the Texas Supreme Court ruled on it directly in Johnson v. Bexar Appraisal District, and the court sided with the appraisal district: a married couple living apart still gets only the one exemption, with a narrow exception for certain disabled veterans. The Texas Comptroller’s own guidance says the same thing. If you’re hoping a separate address quietly earns you a second exemption while the divorce sorts itself out, it does not work that way, and an appraisal district that catches it can bill you for the taxes you should have paid, plus penalty and interest.

If you’re weighing whether to sell the house itself rather than keep paying on two addresses, we’ve also covered what selling it does to your taxes in a separate piece.

What the One-Exemption Rule Means for You

• Only one homestead exemption exists per married couple, no matter how many homes either of you owns or rents.
• It applies even if you file taxes separately or live in different counties.
• Your county appraisal district enforces it, and can bill back taxes, penalty, and interest if it finds a second exemption claimed in error.
• The only real exception is a narrow one for certain disabled veterans.
• The rule ends once the divorce is final and the exemption gets reassigned in the new owner’s name.

So What Does This Cost You Right Now?

If you’re the spouse who moved out, this usually means a real number, not a technicality. A homestead exemption knocks a meaningful chunk off your taxable value every year, so paying full rate on a new place while the case is still open can add up over a divorce that drags on for a year or more. We’ve sat down with more than one Houston-area client mid-divorce who had not run this math yet, and it is one of the quieter costs of the process. It is worth asking your attorney to factor it into any temporary support numbers, and worth checking your own county appraisal district’s website to see exactly whose name is on the exemption right now, because that tells you where you stand.

Filing the New Exemption Once It’s Final

Once the divorce is final and the house is settled, whichever of you keeps it needs to file a new homestead exemption application with the county appraisal district in your own name. It does not carry over automatically, even though your name was already on the deed. If you are the one moving into a new primary residence after the divorce, the same rule applies there too. File the paperwork yourself, and do not assume the county already has it handled.

Our Divorce Guide walks through the rest of what happens to the house, start to finish, if you haven’t looked at it yet.

If you are not sure whose name currently carries the exemption on your house, your county appraisal district’s website will tell you in under five minutes. It is worth checking before this goes any further in your case.