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New Wife Responsible for Alimony and Child Support Payments?

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pbw3172

Junior Member
State = NC

My husband pays alimony to his ex wife and pays child support for a child he had outside of his first marriage. He had a child from the first marriage but he is 19 y/o. This other child is almost 4 y/o. If he were to lose his job or get sick, am I responsible for paying his alimony and child support payments for this 4 y/o? I make pretty good but about $40k less than him.

Note, the courts did not order any alimony or child support payments for this outside child. The ex wife and mother of his outside child came to agreements for him to pay specified amounts. He direct deposits the ex wife's payment into an account and sends a check to the other child's mother.

Basically, I do not want to have to pay them anything if something were to happen. How can I protect myself from this?

Thanks,

Candace
[email protected]
 


I AM ALWAYS LIABLE

Senior Member
pbw3172 said:
State = NC

My husband pays alimony to his ex wife and pays child support for a child he had outside of his first marriage. He had a child from the first marriage but he is 19 y/o. This other child is almost 4 y/o. If he were to lose his job or get sick, am I responsible for paying his alimony and child support payments for this 4 y/o? I make pretty good but about $40k less than him.

Note, the courts did not order any alimony or child support payments for this outside child. The ex wife and mother of his outside child came to agreements for him to pay specified amounts. He direct deposits the ex wife's payment into an account and sends a check to the other child's mother.

Basically, I do not want to have to pay them anything if something were to happen. How can I protect myself from this?

Thanks,

Candace
[email protected]


My response:

Legally responsible? No. However, if you love him, and "push comes to shove," you'll be the one paying anyway. You wouldn't want to see him go to jail for non-payment, would you? Of course not. Then, you'll be paying.

This is the "Cross" you decided to bear. Live with it.

You should have made a better life decision. See what happens when you marry into trailer trash?

IAAL
 

pbw3172

Junior Member
Re: Support Payments?

Unfortunately, I was hoping I would get a more "educated" answer but not so. If there is someone who can supply me with some true legal advice and not an "opinion" I would appreciate it.

Regardless of who I chose to marry, I came to this forum to seek legal advice, not opinionated statements. Again, I ask if someone can answer my question, I would deeply appreciate it.

Thanks for your help!

Candace
[email protected]
 

I AM ALWAYS LIABLE

Senior Member
pbw3172 said:
Unfortunately, I was hoping I would get a more "educated" answer but not so. If there is someone who can supply me with some true legal advice and not an "opinion" I would appreciate it.

Regardless of who I chose to marry, I came to this forum to seek legal advice, not opinionated statements. Again, I ask if someone can answer my question, I would deeply appreciate it.

Thanks for your help!

Candace
[email protected]

My response:

Candice, whether you believe me or not, you received a legally correct and accurate answer.

However, even I have to admit, the "trailer trash" part was opinion - - but probably just as accurate.

IAAL
 

pbw3172

Junior Member
Re: Support Payments?

Well, if the courts never ordered any alimony or child support payments, can it viably be enforced? Furthermore, can I be held responsible or forced to pay it? In the state of NC, I am not sure if it is legal by word of mouth.

The outside child now lives in NJ so child support, if ordered, would be applicable to NJ law and not NC correct? I am just trying to get some direction before paying to consult a lawyer. There are no issues with payment now but I think eventually the outside mother may want to get more money out of spite now that he has remarried.

Thank you,

Candace
[email protected]
 

LdiJ

Senior Member
pbw3172 said:
Well, if the courts never ordered any alimony or child support payments, can it viably be enforced? Furthermore, can I be held responsible or forced to pay it? In the state of NC, I am not sure if it is legal by word of mouth.

The outside child now lives in NJ so child support, if ordered, would be applicable to NJ law and not NC correct? I am just trying to get some direction before paying to consult a lawyer. There are no issues with payment now but I think eventually the outside mother may want to get more money out of spite now that he has remarried.

Thank you,

Candace
[email protected]
Lets try this again.

If they made legal agreements which were signed off on by a judge, its still a court order. If they signed contracts they are still enforceable as contracts.

The bottom line is....you cannot be held legally liable. Nevertheless, if your husband can't pay, and you refuse to pay for him, then he will suffer the reprecussions of that. In the end those reprecussions may be far more expensive for your marriage, than you paying for him.

Are you going to refuse to pay his car payment? His insurance bills? His credit card bills?
 

pbw3172

Junior Member
LdiJ,

Thanks for your post to my question. I understand your response about the paying of his bill, which I will do. But in this case, he is paying $1400 in "alimony" and $600 in child support. I can't afford on my salary alone to pay $2000/mo for something I feel I should not have to pay. We discussed this before we got married and he assured me I would not be responsible for is "baggage" but I still don't want them to try to come after me.

There were no legal agreements made from a judge or court order. It was all word-of-mouth agreements. I searched this site and in some states, the courts can calculate in the wife's salary to grant increases in pay. However, in this case, how can you grant an increase in something that was never ordered by the courts or judge to begin with?

Again, as you can tell, I had some reservatioins about this to begin with and have suggested we go to a lawyer to resolve and he is OK with that. I just want to know if I'd be shooting myself in the foot by getting it legally written up or leave it as is and hope for the best.

Thanks!

Candace
[email protected]
 

LdiJ

Senior Member
pbw3172 said:
LdiJ,

Thanks for your post to my question. I understand your response about the paying of his bill, which I will do. But in this case, he is paying $1400 in "alimony" and $600 in child support. I can't afford on my salary alone to pay $2000/mo for something I feel I should not have to pay. We discussed this before we got married and he assured me I would not be responsible for is "baggage" but I still don't want them to try to come after me.

There were no legal agreements made from a judge or court order. It was all word-of-mouth agreements. I searched this site and in some states, the courts can calculate in the wife's salary to grant increases in pay. However, in this case, how can you grant an increase in something that was never ordered by the courts or judge to begin with?

Again, as you can tell, I had some reservatioins about this to begin with and have suggested we go to a lawyer to resolve and he is OK with that. I just want to know if I'd be shooting myself in the foot by getting it legally written up or leave it as is and hope for the best.

Thanks!

Candace
[email protected]
Well, since there don't appear to be any court orders there is no legal obligation for him to pay either.....but in any case no, they can't "go after you"...you have no legal obligation to either party and never will have. However, they would be able to go after any assets held jointly. Therefore, if you are really worried about this keep your money in your own account and your property in just your name.
 

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