TEXAS BAR EXAM DISTINCTIONS — ONE-PAGE CHEAT SHEET
Condensed companion to the Texas Bar Exam Distinctions long outline.
Format: UBE state since Feb. 2021 (MBE 50% / MEE 30% / MPT 20%); the graded exam is national/uniform law. Texas-specific law migrated to the Texas Law Component (TLC), a separate online pass/fail course. The rules below are TLC/practice law — never write them on a UBE essay unless instructed.
1. COMMUNITY PROPERTY (THE BIG ONE)
Texas is a community-property state. · All property on hand presumed community (§ 3.003); separate-property claimant must rebut by clear and convincing evidence. · Separate property (constitutionally protected, art. XVI § 15; § 3.001) = (1) owned before marriage; (2) acquired by gift, devise, or descent; (3) personal-injury recovery (except lost earning capacity during marriage). · Income/rents from separate property are community. · Inception of title fixes character when first acquired regardless of later payments. · Commingling: mixed funds presumed community; rebut only by tracing (community-out-first presumption). · Cross-estate enhancement = reimbursement claim, not ownership change. · Sole- vs. joint-management community property (§ 3.102). · Divorce: court divides community "just and right" (§ 7.001) — not automatic 50/50 — and cannot divest a spouse of separate property. · Premarital / partition-or-exchange / conversion agreements can alter characterization. · At death: dispose of separate + one-half community; no elective share.
2. CIVIL PROCEDURE (TRCP)
Verified denials (TRCP 93) — certain matters (capacity, partnership/corporate existence, account) deemed admitted if not verified by affidavit. · Special exception (TRCP 91) — points out pleading defects with built-in repleader right (Texas's 12(b)(6) analogue). · No-answer default by "10 a.m. Monday next after 20 days"; set aside under Craddock. · Two summary-judgment species (166a): traditional (166a(c), like FRCP 56) and no-evidence (166a(i)) — movant produces nothing, burden shifts to nonmovant to raise more than a scintilla. · Discovery levels 1/2/3 + control plan (190) assigned at outset. · Limitations: 2 yrs PI/torts/wrongful death (§ 16.003); 4 yrs contract/fraud/debt (§ 16.004/16.051). · Venue challenged by motion to transfer (before/with answer); plea to the jurisdiction (sovereign immunity). · Two courts of last resort: Supreme Court of Texas (civil) and Court of Criminal Appeals (criminal).
3. PROPERTY & HOMESTEAD
Constitutional homestead (art. XVI §§ 50–52; Prop. Code ch. 41) — protected from forced sale except a short list: purchase-money, taxes, mechanic's/home-improvement, owelty, certain refinances, reverse mortgages, compliant home-equity loans. · Acreage-based, value unlimited: urban 10 acres; rural 100 (single) / 200 (family). · Spousal joinder required to convey/encumber homestead even if one spouse's separate property (§ 5.001); survivor's life-occupancy right. · Recording act (§ 13.001) = notice — BFP for value without notice prevails; recording first is not what controls.
4. TORTS & DAMAGES
Proportionate responsibility (ch. 33): modified comparative, 51% bar — claimant >50% responsible recovers nothing; responsible-third-party designation. · Damages caps: $250,000 noneconomic in health-care-liability/med-mal (economic uncapped, ch. 74); exemplary cap greater of $200k or 2× economic + noneconomic up to $750k (§ 41.008). · Dram shop (Alco. Bev. Code ch. 2): liability only if recipient was obviously intoxicated to the extent he was a clear danger; trained-server safe harbor. · Wrongful death vs. survival (ch. 71): wrongful-death = survivors' losses (spouse/children/parents); survival = decedent's/estate's losses.
5. PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY (TDRPC)
UBE/MPRE test ABA Model Rules; Texas practice follows the TDRPC. Divergences: Rule 1.05 confidentiality frames "confidential" vs. "unprivileged client information," permissive ("may reveal") disclosure including to prevent a crime/fraud; stricter on non-consensual screening of lateral conflicts (1.06–1.09); reporting (8.03); distinctive advertising/solicitation review (Part VII) with filing requirements.
6. CRIMINAL (brief)
Penal Code + Code of Criminal Procedure; four statutory culpable mental states (intentional, knowing, reckless, criminally negligent) and statutory offense grading. Criminal appeals end at the Court of Criminal Appeals. But the MBE tests uniform/common-law substance and federal constitutional procedure — treat Texas statutes as TLC/practice knowledge only.
7. CONTRACTS / BUSINESS
UCC adopted; charging order is the exclusive creditor remedy against an LLC member's/partner's interest. Entities: LLC (Bus. Org. Code), corporations, partnerships (RUPA/RULPA). General contract doctrine tested on the MEE is national/uniform.
8. WILLS/ESTATES (brief)
Community-property death rule controls: spouse disposes of separate property + one-half community; surviving spouse already owns the other half; no elective share. Intestate community half passes to spouse only if all the decedent's children are also the survivor's; otherwise to the decedent's children. Homestead occupancy right survives.
9. EVIDENCE (brief)
Texas Rules of Evidence govern state practice but the MBE tests the FRE; differences are minor and TLC-level. No special evidence distinction is exam-graded under the UBE.
10. EXAM FORMAT
UBE: minimum score 270/400 (high nationally; many states 260/266); portable. The TLC is separate, online, pass/fail and does not affect the score — schedule it deliberately. Default on MEE essays = majority/uniform rule unless the call names Texas.
KEY FLAGS
UBE state — Texas law lives on the TLC, not the graded exam (min. 270) · community-property presumption (clear-and-convincing rebuttal) + separate = pre-marriage/gift-devise-descent/PI recovery + income from separate is community · inception of title + tracing/community-out-first + reimbursement (not ownership) · "just and right" division cannot divest separate property · verified denial (93) + special exception (91) + no-evidence SJ (166a(i)) + discovery levels (190) + plea to the jurisdiction · two courts of last resort · constitutional homestead (urban 10 / rural 100 single / 200 family, value-unlimited) + spousal joinder · § 13.001 notice recording act · proportionate responsibility 51% bar · $250k med-mal noneconomic cap · dram-shop "obviously intoxicated/clear danger" · wrongful-death vs. survival split · TDRPC (Rule 1.05 confidentiality, screening, advertising) · limitations 2 yrs torts / 4 yrs contract.