In the State of Texas, are Spouses able to "lay claim" to part of their spouse's settlement, resulting from a parent's wrongful death suit?
(If they are divorced after the wronful death settlement is awarded)
If I understand your question, can one spouse, who is the wrongful death beneficiary of their parent, have the other spouse lay some claim to a portion of the settlement even though the wrongful death settlement was awarded after the divorce of the spouses. Typically, anything the wrongful death beneficiary receives as a result of the death of a parent would be that spouse's separate property, whether the spouses were currently married or divorced, Status of the spouses does not have a bearing on the characterization of the wrongful death settlement. Part of the wrong death settlement would be for the child off the parent to compensate for the child's loss of their parent. Some moneys may be characterized as going to the deceased estate - there the child would obtain part of the settlement through succession or device (a will). That would also likely be that souse's separate property.
