I am currently paying the insurance premiums on my separated spouse’s car and her share of our storage rental expense.
May I net those expenditures against the monthly child support amounts due, or what is the best way to handle their reimbursement?
Thank you.
If you are ordered to pay your spouse child support, you should pay the ordered amount and not deduct anything unless it is specifically addressed in the order. If you do not pay the full ordered amount, the other party may file the motion for you to be held in contempt. Those items seem more related to alimony, but you could also ask the court to consider those payments when decidingequitable distribution. There are no guarantees that the court will order that you be reimbursed for these expenses, so the best thing to do is divide these expenditures as soon as possible so that you are no longer responsible for anything of hers.
Thank you, Ms. Putiri.
There have been no court orders involved. Everything has been done privately, between the parties.
I can see where the insurance premiums are a straight forward matter of each paying for their own cars.
With regard to the commingled storage, there is no agreement to deduct the separated spouse’s share from child support.
Does this suggest that the equitable distribution is best handled by my paying the full amount of the storage rental and then invoicing the other spouse for her portion?
You can tell your spouse how much you are owed, but there is no law requiring payment. If you can’t reach an agreement about how these items should be paid, you can ask the court to take your payment of expenses on your spouse’s behalf into consideration when determining the division of the marital estate in equitable distribution.