# Support Orders



## Lehua (Jun 5, 2020)

My ex filed a motion to enforce support. He got illegally married in another state. At that time I stopped paying spousal maintenance. There was also a storage filled with all his stuff. There was a classic car he’d gotten from his grandpa that is in there. I continued to pay because he didn’t ask for keys or made any attempt to contact the storage company. I deducted the storage payment from my payment to him.
Anyway, he got his illegal marriage annulled. It was deemed invalid by the court. Anyway, he filed a motion for me to pay backpay on the support since he was “never married.” It’s so much BS. And we still won’t be divorced. Shouldn’t he be more concerned about trying to keep his “wife” happy and just finalize our divorce quickly! Why is he stalling? I’m so annoyed. It’s ridiculous!!!


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## Livvie (Jan 20, 2014)

What's the question here?


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## Lehua (Jun 5, 2020)

Livvie said:


> What's the question here?


 Oh sorry. Got caught up... I guess it was mainly to vent but I wanted to get others opinion if you thought the judge would grant in his favor.


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## Livvie (Jan 20, 2014)

No one knows what the judge will think but I think you owe the support. If you two aren't divorced yet you knew he was NOT in fact legally married to another person (presumably a condition upon which your support payments can stop?) so there was no reason to stop the payments.


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## bobert (Nov 22, 2018)

Did you consult a lawyer before stopping payments, and about the deduction? If not, that was a huge error on your part.

Why would you stop the payments when you knew his marriage wasn't valid?

Regardless, time to consult a lawyer if you haven't already. They will be able to tell you where you stand and, in most cases, what that particular judge is more likely to do. Be prepared to backpay...


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## lifeistooshort (Mar 17, 2013)

Why do you have support payments if you're not divorced?

Is it court ordered?


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## EleGirl (Dec 3, 2011)

Lehua said:


> Oh sorry. Got caught up... I guess it was mainly to vent but I wanted to get others opinion if you thought the judge would grant in his favor.


Is there a court order for you to pay support?

You are not divorced yet, so how is it that you are/were paying him support?

Have you talked to a lawyer about this?


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## Wolfman1968 (Jun 9, 2011)

lifeistooshort said:


> Why do you have support payments if you're not divorced?
> 
> Is it court ordered?





EleGirl said:


> Is there a court order for you to pay support?
> 
> You are not divorced yet, so how is it that you are/were paying him support?
> 
> Have you talked to a lawyer about this?


I agree with the above quotes. It seems there are pieces to this puzzle missing which must be supplied before an answer can be provided.

If your divorce is NOT final, and this support is NOT court-ordered, then in general you wouldn't really be "legally" required to pay anything. 

However, if the support IS court-ordered---even if it is a court-ordered temporary support order pending the final marriage dissolution order---then you MUST pay it, or you are in violation of a court order. And in such a case, you would be typically liable to backpay the missed payments. Even if he does get married, the support typically has to end through a court order recognizing that fact. You generally can't be the one to declare the support to be "over". You would bring your evidence to the judge, and then she/he would then agree with your facts and issue the corresponding order. 

And you also can't generally deduct any "costs" like storage rent on your own volition from a COURT ORDERED support. You have to have the judge ALLOW you to deduct it if you specifically ask and the judge agrees. If the divorce is not finalized, then any extra payments you make can be recouped at the time of the final settlement, if appropriate. However, many temporary support orders will have the payor spouse (typically the higher earner) give the receiving spouse a support amount for the duration of the divorce negotitaions/separation, and also place the responsibility of the usual/customary expenses of the couple on the payor as well. If the receiving spouse was expected to also assume certain costs, like storage or other potential "common" expenses, then the temporary support would have been higher. Remember, the judge has no idea what is in the storage unit. All the judge knows is that is was a marital expense before the dissolution process began, and if you are the bigger earner, you may well be expected to maintain it until the divorce is finalized. And if you allow damage or loss to come to his items, you may be held responsible (financially) for them. So, bottom line, you can't make any such deductions on your own in a COURT ORDERED support, unless a provision allowing for it is part of the order.

Just think of it this way. If the higher earning spouse also provided the couple's health insurance through work, you wouldn't be surprised that in addition to the temporary support during separation, that spouse would also be required not to take the receiving spouse off the insurance plan until the divorce was finalized. And you also wouldn't expect that the paying spouse would be allowed to unilaterally deduct the amount of the receiving spouse's insurance premium from the support until the divorce is finalized. It's a very similar concept here.


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## Livvie (Jan 20, 2014)

Interim Orders to pay both spousal and child support while the divorce is pending. Very common.


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## Openminded (Feb 21, 2013)

Does the support stop when/if he remarries?


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## Wolfman1968 (Jun 9, 2011)

Livvie said:


> Interim Orders to pay both spousal and child support while the divorce is pending. Very common.


Yes, I suspect that's what this "support" represents, but the OP doesn't specifically say.


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## Wolfman1968 (Jun 9, 2011)

Openminded said:


> Does the support stop when/if he remarries?


Well, if it's interim/temporary support while the divorce is pending/in process, then he COULDN'T remarry because, by definition, the divorce from the first marriage has not been legally completed. Which sound like is the situation for the OP..

A FINAL support order as part of the final divorce decree would typically end upon marriage. But even then, the paying spouse doesn't get to declare when that situation is fulfilled. Instead, the paying spouse petitions the judge to "quash" or terminate the support order by showing that the receiving spouse has remarried and should no longer be receiving the support. Then, the support ends when the judge orders it so. (Interestingly, there ARE some situations when support could continue despite the receiving spouse getting remarried, and I have even witnessed it. It was a situation where the support was ordered for a specific number of years and included verbiage that specified it continues even upon remarriage.)


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