Can my Ex get my new spouses money

[datanick24]

I am getting married in a few months. My girlfriend is afraid my greedy ex can go after her income, savings, ect after we are married. Do we have anything to worry about? The Ex can only get money (childsupport) from me right??

[defaultuser]

Yes, she can only collect from you, not your new wife. In some places your new wife's income, to the extent that it offsets your monthly bills could technically be counted as income for you.

For example, you move in with your new wife and don't pay any mortgage or rent. The value of 1/2 the rent could be added to your income by the court, thereby increasing your child support obligation.

In my opinion, this is extremely rare. I think most states do not allow this and new spouses or girlfriends in kind income is specifically excluded. My state does however allow in-kind income from any source to be considered.

Imagine if you and your new wife started a business together and set things up so you were paid $8,000 a year salary and she was paid $80,000 a year salary, or your X wife lived with her parents who paid all the bills thereby making your child support obligation higher because she does not work. These situations are what that caselaw is mostly dealing with if you look into it.

[Fatheroffour]

You could just live together.

Far be it for me to be one to advocate against marriage, but from the sound of it you didn't make out too good the first time around. You may want to give some serious consideration on how to prevent it from happening again.

[coscrewed]

Depending on the state, your new spouse's income can definitely be used in calculating alimony. Given that, I would not be surprised if some states also use a 2nd spouse's income in determining child support.

What state are you in?


I am with FoF, there is really no reason to marry in this day and age. Why would you even consider such a thing?

[Thoughts?]

Depending on the state, your new spouse's income can definitely be used in calculating alimony. Given that, I would not be surprised if some states also use a 2nd spouse's income in determining child support.

Not quite sure about the accuracy of that statement.

I know of no states where a new spouses income could be used as a basis for CS for a step-child. The new spouse is not a party to the child's birth, the divorce, divorce case, and has no legal obligations to the child. The only (weakly) arguable connection would be if they offset some expense normally paid by, or convey some income to, the parent obligated for support.

Re spousal, same situation, with the exception that by virtue of getting married & securing an employed spouse, a person could lose Spousal / alimony they are receiving. Remarriage & co-habitation clauses are somewhat common in alimony / spousal support situations.

[defaultuser]

Based on what I know about the situation, it doesn't really matter if you're married or not. There is no way a family court can go after someone's income that isn't a party to the case.

They can order you to pay more, but they can't directly go after her money.

[RC211V]

Wouldn't a good way to go about this be to just make sure you never mix your money with your new partner? If you pay all the bills same as if you were single, don't put any money in your account except your paycheck, just like you were single, just run your finances like you were single, then what could your ex do about it?

[defaultuser]

Post divorce, the only thing the court goes after is income. Your money, or your wife's money or joint money is hands off.

[Trevor]

Post divorce, the only thing the court goes after is income. Your money, or your wife's money or joint money is hands off.

However, certain court actions may require a financial affidavit to be submitted, along with mandatory disclosure, which may mean a full set of financial documents. That's the case in FL right now. So her money can bee seen by your X if is commingled with yours.

[defaultuser]

True enough, although I'd think that commingling your money would be a benefit if you're in Fl. The intent of the financial affidavit and disclosure would be to uncover hidden forms of income. If you make 50k per year but spend 75k, you'd have to answer for that, unless your new wife's income is all mixed up in the discovery, making it impossible to figure out if you had other sources of income.

The only outcome of a financial affidavit post divorce in FL is to get to a single number... your monthly income, to which child support is calculated from.