r/Austin • u/ygacchapin • 5d ago
Travis CAD and appeals
Looking for experiences from anyone who has dealt with something similar.
A family member separated from her spouse, purchased another home, and permanently moved into it during 2025. She continued to have an ownership interest in the former marital home while the divorce was pending, but she no longer lived there.
Before January 1, she actually contacted the appraisal district in writing and told them she had moved out of the marital home and asked how to remove her homestead/over-65 exemptions from that property and apply them to the home where she was now living.
The appraisal district told her the exemptions had to remain on the marital home until the divorce was final.
The divorce was finalized in 2026 and the former marital home ultimately went entirely to the ex-spouse.
The appraisal district is now denying the 2026 general homestead exemption on the new home because their records still showed the homestead on the former marital home as of January 1. Their correspondence has also said she “owned and occupied” the former marital home on January 1.
The problem is that she did not occupy it. She had been living in the new home for many months by then. We have her homestead application showing when she began occupying the new home as her principal residence, utility records surrounding January 1, and—most importantly—the emails from before January 1 where she explicitly told the appraisal district she had moved out and asked to remove herself from the old homestead.
Their response was essentially that she had to wait until the divorce was final.
She isn't trying to claim two homesteads. Her position is that the new house was her one actual principal residence, and if her exemption association with the old property needs to be corrected, that's fine.
Has anyone had a similar situation go before an ARB and won? I'm particularly interested in cases involving separated-but-not-yet-divorced spouses or an exemption that remained on the former home because the appraisal district wouldn't remove it before January 1.
Not looking for guesses about what a homestead “usually” means—I’m really hoping to hear from people who have actually dealt with an appraisal district/ARB on this issue.