My husband and I are separated, and I have a question about his car insurance liability coverage. Is there a way that I could limit it so that it doesn’t apply to me?

Nina

I’m glad you asked, Nina.

Unfortunately, when one spouse gets into a car accident and or has a lawsuit brought against them, it usually ends up that both spouses are liable and end up sitting together in the court room while they lose everything they own. This is one of the reason that many couples in this day and age are signing pre nuptial agreements before they get married, so that they can retain their solvency against their spouse’s debts. The problem is, though, that such agreements only apply to wealth accrued and debt from before the marriage itself, so after marriage it is much more difficult.

The best advice that I could give to you at this moment is to get in touch with a lawyer to see what your options are should your husband be the cause of an accident while the two of you are separated. It is possible that, depending on what state you live in, your lawyer could set up something for you that would make it to where you do not have to take part in any of the repercussions of your spouse’s car insurance liability claims.

Failing that, the most foolproof way to get out of this situation is to go ahead and get a divorce. While the two of you are still married, if in name alone it does not matter, you are still economically tied and thus share an often joint culpability for many financial matters. The way to sever this tie is to start the divorce proceedings. While you should never rush into something like that, it is a thought.

Cheers,

Fashun Guadarrama.