Car Payments During Divorce
Modern society is highly mobile. Many people rely on cars to bring us to work, school, and for other daily activities, especially in South Florida. One issue that frequently arises in divorce litigation is who makes the car payments during divorce? If one person does not have access to a vehicle, this can cause many obvious problems because the spouse without access to a vehicle is effectively immobilized! Not having a car makes it extremely difficult for many people to carry on with their lives.
Keep Your Car
Some husbands or wives take a family car away from their spouse out of revenge or spite. There are other situations where a spouse stops making payment on the other spouse’s vehicle, which causes the vehicle to be unsuspectingly repossessed. Many people are stressed during the dissolution process because they fear their spouse is going to keep their car. They might also be concerned with simply keeping their transportation or to make sure the car payments during divorce are made timely.
Car Payment as Alimony
The answer about who makes the car payments during divorce is not crystal clear. This frustrates a lot of our clients. It is impossible to identify the appropriate party to make the car payments during divorce without knowing the specifics of the case. Knowing the specific facts of a case will enable a competent family law attorney to analyze the case. Then it can be determined who should make the car payments during divorce and whether those payments should be made incident to alimony.
Requiring Spouse to Make Car Payment
The answer as to who makes the car payments during divorce will depend on a multitude of factors, but oftentimes the car payments during divorce are an incident of alimony or spousal support. Depending on the economic resources of the parties, a spouse can file a Motion for Temporary Relief requesting that one spouse pay for the vehicle of the other. Oftentimes the Court will require one party to pay the other alimony or directly make the car payments during divorce.
Understanding alimony and spousal support is a complex area of divorce litigation. It is important to understand all your rights and responsibilities under the law. This will help ensure you are not left stranded and without a vehicle if the other spouse acts revengeful.
Return of Motor Vehicle Divorce
If one party is withholding a marital vehicle from the other, depending on the circumstances, it is possible for a party to request that the other spouse return the vehicle. Unfortunately, given the high tensions that are oftentimes present in dissolution of marriage cases, a party may intentionally damage a vehicle out of anger or spite. A party can request that the Court order a party to repair any damages or pay for maintenance items on the vehicle prior to its return to the rightful spouse. Whether this is appropriate will depend on the specific facts of the case.
Doing What’s Right
Martin Family Law has experience negotiating and litigating issues concerning marital vehicles. We always encourage our client’s to do what’s morally and ethically right.
Our firm practices primarily in the area of divorce and other family law matters in Palm Beach County, Florida.