{"id":376627,"date":"2016-03-31T21:37:00","date_gmt":"2016-04-01T02:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/content.findlaw-admin.com\/ability-law\/state\/texas-law\/texas-homestead-law-overview.html"},"modified":"2016-06-20T19:51:09","modified_gmt":"2016-06-21T00:51:09","slug":"texas-homestead-law-overview","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.findlaw.com\/state\/texas-law\/texas-homestead-law-overview.html","title":{"rendered":"Texas Homestead Law Overview"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Texas Homestead Law Overview<\/h1>\n
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Created by FindLaw’s team<\/a> of legal writers and editors<\/i><\/p>\n\n | Last updated\n

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State homestead protection laws help prevent people from becoming homeless in the event of a foreclosure or change in economic circumstances. In Texas, every family and every single adult person is entitled to a homestead exempt from seizure passed on the claims of creditors, except for a pre-existing mortgage or lien. Texas homestead law protects qualifying real property from forced sale by general creditors, and courts have interpreted the laws broadly to help accomplish their goals.<\/p>\n

Determining Urban or Rural Homesteads in Texas<\/h2>\n

A homestead can be either urban property or rural property. An urban homestead may be a home or a place of business, or both. There is no limit to the value of urban or rural homesteads, only to their size. Rural homesteads are limited to 200 acres for a family and 100 acres for a single adult, including improvements on the property. An urban homestead is limited to ten acres with improvements, which must be in adjacent lots. Whether a homestead is rural or urban affects such issues as the amount of acreage subject to the homestead exemption and whether the property can qualify as a business homestead.<\/p>\n

Texas property law<\/a> says that a homestead is considered to be urban if the property is:<\/p>\n