Rental property with tenant undergoing divorce

[Jimmy Chin]

Hello fellow BP members,

I have a situation with a tenant in Texas and was hoping someone could provide me with some insight on how to handle it. On the leasing agreement, the tenant is the sole party responsible for the lease and his wife was added as an adult that also resides in the property. 

I recently was made aware that the tenant is going through a messy divorce and custody battle and the tenant has not lived in the property for half a year while his wife remained and paid the rent this whole time. Of course, i didn't know this until the tenant sent his 60 day notice to vacate.

The lease ends soon and his wife has chosen to sign a new lease agreement to remain at the property. The tenant has left everything behind in the property - furniture, tvs, pots and pans, etc. He is now asking for his full security deposit back because his wife is planning on staying there and is accepting the condition as is. I refused because I am treating his wife's lease as a completely new one and processing it as a standard tenant move out/move in (ie. restoring property to previous move in condition) Am i doing the right thing?

Another question - could i consider this an abandonment of the property (since i wasn't notified beforehand) and prevent the tenant from returning to the property before his lease ends? And yes, it's because I'm rather concerned what he might do to the property.

Thanks!