Your ex pays you child support to help you with all of the expenses that come with raising kids. Some custodial parents can be unsure of what these payments should and shouldn’t cover. For example, is child support meant to pay car insurance premiums? A Tazewell County child support lawyer can help you clear up any confusion.
What is Child Support Meant to Cover?
Child support is meant to cover the costs that come with raising a child. If you are the custodial parent, you have to pay for housing, utilities, food, and all of the other needs your children have. These payments from the non-custodial parent are meant to help you with that.
Most parents can argue that it is necessary to have some kind of transportation for their children. They have to get to school, doctor appointments, and extracurricular activities. So it’s not that strange to use your child support payments to maintain your vehicle. You need gas and the occasional repairs. The state will charge you various fees to use it, like when you renew your registration. And yes, you have to pay for car insurance.
Can Child Support Cover Car Insurance?
So while your child support is not explicitly for car insurance, it is something that these payments from your ex can help with. It would not be considered a misuse of those funds.
In fact, it is in the interests of both parents to have robust insurance policies. There are minimum amounts of coverage that every driver must buy, but if you have young kids you may want to invest in policies with higher limits. This can protect you if you are hit by an uninsured or underinsured driver, reducing your medical expenses and potentially saving your family from bills that can cause financial stress.
What Happens When Our Child Needs Car Insurance?
Now, one thing that may complicate matters is when one of the kids gets a driver’s license of their own. Who pays for their car insurance? This is when we recommend working out a deal with your ex.
Child support agreements can be modified or rethought. If there’s a big event or change in your lives, your support can be adjusted. We would say that one child needing car insurance is a big change. Whether they get a policy of their own or get added to a parent’s policy, this can be a big expense for young drivers. It can be tough for teens to pay those premiums themselves.
So this really is a time when you and your ex should talk about how this expense will be handled. You can figure out how the bill will be split or whose policy will be able to add a new teen driver for less money. A teen with a job can also contribute to their own bill.
Contact Our Law Firm
Whether you decide to modify an existing agreement or make a deal specifically about car insurance costs, we may be able to help. Contact Butler, Giraudo & Meister, P.C. to schedule a consultation with our team today.
