If your child is still in elementary school or even if they’re getting into the preteen years, the last thing you’re probably thinking about as you work out your custody and support agreements is who will pay for their car insurance. You’re under enough stress without picturing your child as a teen behind the wheel of a car.
However, that day will get here eventually, and having a teen driver will raise your car insurance rates – perhaps by a lot. Even if the custody split isn’t 50-50, you will likely both be responsible for making sure that your child has insurance.
Whose policy should they be on?
If one parent has primary custody of a child and they’ll be driving one or more of their cars, that parent will need to add the child to their insurance policy. However, if the child is going to be driving the other parent’s car at any point, it’s a good idea for that parent to add them to their policy as well.
How will insurance and other vehicle-related expenses be divided?
Including your child on your insurance policy is an important matter. However, for purposes of the divorce, the larger concern is likely who pays for them to be insured. Even if your child gets their own car and their own policy, one or both of you may need to cover part of the expense.
It’s often most convenient to include auto insurance in your child support agreement. Maybe your child can barely drive their Big Wheel toy without crashing into something (or someone). Nonetheless, by deciding how their car insurance (and other vehicle-related expenses like maintenance and repair) will be split between you as you divorce, that’s one less reason to revisit and modify your divorce documents later.
