Divorce

[Saving in So Cal]

Is there any way you can just pay off her car and be done with it. Other than that, it sounds like you've made as clean a financial break as you can. As long as you are still making payments on the car, you are still connected to her and unexpected problems can arise. For instance, what happens when she wants to buy a new car a year or two?

Also, while the property settlement, once approved, will be binding on you and your ex-wife, it will not necessarily be binding on third parties. This means, depending on the laws of your state, it may still be possible for her debtors to come after you for debts incurred during the marriage. Whether a debtor can do this usually depends on what the debts were incurred for. The more necessary the expense, the more likely the debtor will have some sort of recourse against you if your ex-wife defaults. It sounds like your wife's spending was of the frivolous type, so this risk may not be very great in your case. Also, short of paying off her debts (which is hopefully what she'll do with the lump sum), I don't know that this risk is completely avoidable.

[FrugalIII]

The way the separation agreement is written, the auto stays in both names until the loan is paid off. She is responsible for the insurance and maintenance. If she decides to trade early, the loan will be satisfied with the trade and I'm off the hook. If I were to get a loan and pay the auto off, I'd be paying the full amount plus. I'm hedging a bet that she trades before the end of the 4 years. She has always liked to trade every two or three years. We've had the auto 2 years already. My bet is that she'll take the lump sum and it'll be gone within 6 months to a year and she'll have absolutely nothing to show for it. Heck, two years ago she cashed in a 401k and spent the money on who knows what. I didn't know about it until we had to pay taxes on it later that year. And, you are right. Nothing she bought with her credit cards amounted to much other than clothes and stuff for her kids. Nothing for me that I know of or for the house.