Corporate & Tech Specialist
Executive compensation, stock options, real estate — Texas is community property. This guide shows you exactly what to protect.
Leanne Ozaine, CDFA® & CFP® | Specializing in high-asset divorces
Turn Panic Into Power — $97If you're over 50 and facing divorce in Dallas-Fort Worth, custody battles aren't your concern—your children are grown, independent, or building their own successful careers. Instead, you're navigating the financial complexity of dividing corporate compensation packages, oil and gas interests, professional practices, real estate portfolios, and retirement accounts accumulated over decades in one of America's major business centers.
This is especially challenging if you've never personally managed the household finances. Perhaps your spouse handled stock options, executive compensation, oil royalty interests, or investment portfolios while you focused on family and home. Now you're facing questions like:
You spent decades supporting the business. Raising the children so your spouse could work 80-hour weeks. Entertaining clients. Sacrificing your own career.
Now the business, the executive comp, the oil interests are worth millions — and you're supposed to accept whatever valuation your spouse's expert produces?
Business valuations aren't objective facts. They're arguments. And your spouse's expert will minimize value at every turn: discounts for lack of marketability, depressed revenue projections, "adjustments" that shave hundreds of thousands off the number.
And that's just the business on the books. What about deferred compensation that vests next year? Stock options from ExxonMobil or AT&T? Oil royalties structured to minimize visible value? Your spouse knows every dollar. You might not know these income streams exist.
You don't need to become an expert in business valuation. You need someone who knows where value hides in DFW's corporate and energy wealth, challenges low-ball numbers, and makes sure decades of your sweat equity aren't erased by creative accounting.
DFW is home to more Fortune 500 headquarters than almost any U.S. metro area (ExxonMobil, AT&T, American Airlines, Southwest Airlines, Texas Instruments, and dozens more). This creates complex compensation packages to divide:
Common assets in DFW corporate divorces:
For those new to corporate finance: If your spouse worked for a Fortune 500 company for 20-30 years, their compensation is likely much more complex than salary alone. Understanding vesting schedules, tax implications, and division timing is critical.
DFW has deep ties to the oil and gas industry, even though production is elsewhere. Many families have royalty interests, working interests, or industry employment:
Energy assets to divide:
DFW has thousands of high-earning professionals—doctors, dentists, lawyers, accountants, financial advisors. Practices built during marriage are community property:
Practice valuation considerations:
Texas law includes professional goodwill in valuations, meaning the intangible value of reputation, patient/client lists, and future earning capacity must be quantified and divided.
Dallas-Fort Worth real estate has appreciated dramatically, especially in affluent areas:
High-value neighborhoods:
Homes purchased 20-30 years ago for $300K-$500K may now be worth $1M-$3M+. This appreciation is community property even if one spouse paid the mortgage.
Unlike California's mandatory 50/50, DFW divorces follow Texas's "just and right" standard. Courts have discretion to divide assets based on:
For gray divorce: After 25-30 years of supporting your spouse's corporate career, you may argue for more than 50% based on sacrifices made. Conversely, if you have substantial separate property (inheritance), the court might award less community property.
In Dallas-Fort Worth, we work with clients divorcing after 20, 30, or 40+ years of marriage. Here's what makes gray divorce financially complex in this region:
If your spouse worked for a major DFW employer for decades, retirement benefits may be your largest assets:
Remember: Texas has extremely limited alimony. Even after 30 years of marriage in DFW, court-ordered alimony is capped at $5,000/month for maximum 10 years. You cannot rely on alimony for long-term security—the property division is everything.
Texas's lack of state income tax helps retirement income stretch further, but DFW cost of living has increased significantly in affluent suburbs.
Many of our DFW clients—particularly those who supported a spouse's corporate career—have never personally managed stock options, executive compensation, or oil royalty interests.
You're not alone: Corporate compensation structures are complex, but learnable. We help you understand what you have and how to manage it going forward.
While our primary focus is gray divorce (50+ with grown children), some clients have high school or college-age children. Texas uses guideline percentages, and DFW corporate incomes mean support amounts can be substantial. However, for most 50+ clients, children are independent, and divorce centers on asset division.
As a Dallas-Fort Worth resident, your divorce follows Texas community property law with "just and right" division:
Very limited alimony: Maximum $5,000/month for maximum 10 years. Asset division is critical.
Learn more about Texas divorce laws and limited alimony →
We provide virtual divorce financial planning services throughout Dallas-Fort Worth, including:
The 5-step system that shows you what you'll actually live on, so you stop guessing and start knowing.
Calculate your real post-divorce income — including business buyouts, executive comp, and oil royalties — so you negotiate from facts, not fear.
Document gathering checklists tell you exactly what to bring to your attorney — so you walk in prepared, not panicked.
Map out your real expenses as a single person — before you fight for something you can't actually maintain.
The asset identification system helps you find accounts, business interests, and property you might not even know exist.
22-page guide + video tutorials + checklists + templates
$97
Instant access. 100% money-back guarantee.
Get the Clarity You Need — $97Whether you've managed corporate benefits for years or you're learning about stock options for the first time, you need someone in your corner whose only job is protecting your financial future.
Turn Panic Into Power — $97 Schedule a Strategy Session