Discourses

Living aboard your boat?  May you expect that your boat will, therefore, qualify for the homestead exemption under the Texas Constitution and be given protection from unsecured creditors?  A residence (even a motor home) may attain homestead status, if it is sufficiently attached to land to make it a permanent part of the realty.  You argue that your electrical power cords, dock lines, water hoses, TV cables, etc. securely attach your vessel to the boathouse, which is, in turn, permanently cabled to the land.  You conclude that, therefore, your boat is securely attached to the land.  Does your argument float?  The Texas Supreme Court has recently ruled on your exact argument made for you by a fellow boater (a houseboater).  It held that to qualify as a homestead, a residence must rest on the land and have a requisite degree of physical permanency, immobility and attachment to fixed realty.  Lines, water supply hoses and electrical cords might make the boat habitable but are not sufficient to warrant homestead protection.

Norris v. Thomas, 215 S.W.3d 851 (Tex. 2007)