Florence, AZ asked in Child Custody, Child Support, Divorce and Family Law for Arizona

Q: Am I liable to pay repo vehicle cost after divorce when the ex wife was supposed to take me off the title?

Ex wife never got me removed off title of her vehicle after being divorced for 3 1/2 yos. She got the vehicle repoed in October 2024 due to no payment and a second vehicle repoed in December of 2024. She has not made any attempts to make payments and now has asked me for 2 separate down payment amounts of $5,000 and $1,000 for a new vehicle while asking me to give her my vehicle. She took me to court for child support after settling at the beginning of the divorce that she agreed no one pays child support. because of her my credit is ruined, i am struggling to pay bills, and now the payment on the repoed vehicle is threatened to garnish my wages eventually. She has also not made any attempts to make payments on credit card debits she has made under my name that the courts have stated she needs to repay. She also opened a credit card account in my name after divorce and ran up more debit. I am struggling to keep a float bill wise. Can you please help?

1 Lawyer Answer

A: If wife was ordered to take care of the debt related to the vehicle, then that remains true even now, but unfortunately is only binding upon the two of you. It is not binding upon the creditor who can pursue either of you if you were both on the loan. One option that you have is to file a petition for enforcement, wherein you could ask the court to address this matter in a number of different ways. I would need to know more to determine what remedies might be available and which remedy might be preferable. If you do in fact have to pay toward the debt that was awarded to her in the divorce decree, you should be able to obtain a judgment against her dollar for dollar.

I am not sure under what theory she is making a claim for down payment assistance from you, but unless there is something else in your decree that you owe her, this would simply be a gift between you and her if you were to offer it.

As to child support, if there is a monthly obligation , this trumps all other issues, so make sure that you are current in your child support obligation.

A qualified and experienced family law attorney can of course assist you in considering your options and then getting where you need to be. Most of us offer free, 1/2-hour consultations, in which your matter can be discussed in detail. That would be a great opportunity to discuss the specifics of your matter and develop a plan. I would encourage you to quickly schedule this free consultation.

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