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The Texas Home Equity Controversy In Context Forum - Introduction., James W. Paulsen
The Texas Home Equity Controversy In Context Forum - Introduction., James W. Paulsen
St. Mary's Law Journal
This Essay provides some historical and legal context for the Texas home equity debate during the 1990s. It begins with an examination of early Texas homestead law, which did not clearly prohibit home equity lending. Part II describes the genesis of the homestead exemption in Texas. Public policy surrounding the homestead law had at least three components: protection of debtors, protection of women, and the fostering of an independent spirit in Texas settlers. Part III evaluates the Texas Constitution’s 1876 ban on home equity loans and the subsequent public debate up until the 1970s. Although criticism of the prohibition on …
The Texas Homestead: The Last Bulwark Of Liberty Forum., Henry B. Gonzalez
The Texas Homestead: The Last Bulwark Of Liberty Forum., Henry B. Gonzalez
St. Mary's Law Journal
For more than 155 years Texans have adamantly supported the principle that the fundamental need for shelter justifies strict constitutional protection of homes from creditors in all but a few situations. This Article discusses where homestead protection came from and why it should not be lightly discarded. The Texas Constitution contains many rights and liberties for the protection and benefit of the state’s citizens. Unique among these treasured liberties is the protection of a person’s homestead from forced sale or foreclosure by creditors. A group of bankers and other financiers—for whom a homestead is nothing more than collateral and a …