Can my ex take the chandelier or light fixtures when we sell the house in Texas?

Not once a buyer is under contract on the standard TREC resale form. That contract lists chandeliers, lighting fixtures and ceiling fans as improvements that convey with the house, so an attached fixture belongs in the sale unless it was excluded in writing before the contract was signed.

How do we keep a fixture one of us wants before the house sells?

Remove it and replace it before the house is photographed and listed, or write it into the contract as an exclusion. Swapping it out before listing is cleaner, because buyers never see it and never expect it.

Does our divorce decree decide who gets the TV mounts and the fridge?

The decree divides property between the two of you, but the purchase contract decides what the buyer gets. If the decree awards an item to one spouse and the contract conveys it to the buyer, the buyer still expects it at closing, so line the two documents up before an offer comes in.

What happens if a spouse removes a fixture after the house is under contract?

The buyer can treat it as a breach and ask for the item back, a repair or a credit at closing, and the final walkthrough is usually where it surfaces. In a divorce sale, it also tends to restart an argument both spouses were trying to finish.

Are curtains, rods and a stove part of the sale in Texas?

On the standard TREC resale contract, yes. Curtains and rods, blinds, a stove and garage door remotes are listed as accessories that convey unless they are excluded. Anything neither listed nor attached, like furniture or a freestanding washer, stays personal property.

Divorce

Can Your Ex Take the Chandelier When You Sell the House in a Texas Divorce?

October 22, 2026

A bright entryway with a hanging light fixture and morning sun coming through the front windows

Usually not. Once a buyer signs the standard Texas TREC resale contract, attached items like chandeliers, ceiling fans, lighting fixtures and the mounts and brackets for TVs and speakers go with the house, and pulling one out after that is a breach of the contract. In a Texas divorce, the fix is simple and it has to happen early: decide what each of you keeps and get it out of the house before the listing photos, not after an offer comes in.

We see this one more often than people expect. The house is under contract, everyone is relieved, and then one spouse shows up with a ladder for the dining room light their grandmother gave them. It feels like a small thing. The buyer does not see it that way.

The Contract Already Answers the Question

Paragraph 2 of the Texas Real Estate Commission’s One to Four Family Residential Contract (Resale), the form most Texas home sales use, sorts everything in the house into three buckets:

Improvements. Things attached to the house. The form names lighting fixtures, chandeliers, ceiling fans, mounts and brackets for TVs and speakers, water softeners, garage door openers, landscaping and outdoor cooking equipment, among others. These convey.
Accessories. Things that belong with the house even though they move. Curtains and rods, blinds, a stove, fireplace screens and garage door remotes are on that list. These convey too.
Exclusions. Anything the seller keeps, written in by name. If it is not written here, the buyer assumes it stays.

Furniture, the TV itself and a freestanding washer and dryer are personal property. Those leave with whoever gets them.

Where the Divorce Makes It Harder

Your decree or settlement agreement divides property between the two of you. The purchase contract decides what the buyer gets. Those are two different documents, and nobody checks one against the other unless you do.

So a decree can award the dining room chandelier to one spouse while the listing photos show it hanging over the table and the contract conveys it to the buyer. Both documents are valid. One of you is going to be unhappy. Usually it is the spouse who thought the decree settled it.

The other version we see: one spouse moved out months ago and takes things on the way out, a mounted TV with the bracket, a pool cleaner, the fridge in the garage. Some of those are personal property and fine to take. Some are not. A walkthrough two days before closing is a bad time to find out which.

Here Is What We Would Do

Before the house goes on the market, walk it together, or through your attorneys if that is easier, and make one written list:

Every attached item either of you wants to keep.
Whether each one gets removed and replaced before photos, or written into the contract as an exclusion.
Who pays for the replacement fixture and who installs it.

Removing and replacing before listing is almost always cleaner. A buyer who never saw the crystal chandelier never wanted it. A buyer who toured with it hanging there will ask for a credit when it is gone. This is the same principle behind getting a home ready to sell during a divorce: settle the decisions while there is no buyer waiting on them.

The Move Live Love TX Team™ is a husband-and-wife real estate team serving Houston and the surrounding areas, helping people sell a home during a divorce. We put this list in front of both spouses at the listing appointment, because a fixture fight after contract can cost more in credits and delay than the fixture is worth. If the bigger question is who controls the sale itself, start with do both spouses have to sign to sell a house in Texas, and the Divorce Guide walks through the rest of the process privately.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can my ex take the chandelier or light fixtures when we sell the house in Texas?: Not once a buyer is under contract on the standard TREC resale form. That contract lists chandeliers, lighting fixtures and ceiling fans as improvements that convey with the house, so an attached fixture belongs in the sale unless it was excluded in writing before the contract was signed.
How do we keep a fixture one of us wants before the house sells?: Remove it and replace it before the house is photographed and listed, or write it into the contract as an exclusion. Swapping it out before listing is cleaner, because buyers never see it and never expect it.
Does our divorce decree decide who gets the TV mounts and the fridge?: The decree divides property between the two of you, but the purchase contract decides what the buyer gets. If the decree awards an item to one spouse and the contract conveys it to the buyer, the buyer still expects it at closing, so line the two documents up before an offer comes in.
What happens if a spouse removes a fixture after the house is under contract?: The buyer can treat it as a breach and ask for the item back, a repair or a credit at closing, and the final walkthrough is usually where it surfaces. In a divorce sale, it also tends to restart an argument both spouses were trying to finish.
Are curtains, rods and a stove part of the sale in Texas?: On the standard TREC resale contract, yes. Curtains and rods, blinds, a stove and garage door remotes are listed as accessories that convey unless they are excluded. Anything neither listed nor attached, like furniture or a freestanding washer, stays personal property.