Legal Responsibilities?
My fiance's 11 year old son stole his mother's car (She has primary custody of him). He wrecked into a parked car, cracking the bumper. Does my fiance' have any sort of financial responsibilty to pay for damages to the mother's car, or the other car that was damaged? What else should we know about any legal implications that may come of this?
Answers:
To answer this adequately, we'd need to know the following:
1. When this happened, was the boy under his mother's control (at her house, under her custody, etc.), or did it happen while he was on a visitation with his dad?
2. What does their divorce decree state about how expenses will be divided up with regard to the child?
What I am getting at is, forget for a minute the fact that it was the mother's car. Let's say he stole a stranger's car and wrecked it. Does their divorce judgement state anything specific about who is to pay this type of expense?
If it doesn't (which it probably doesn't), AND the son was in the mom's custody at the time of the accident, I think most likely she would be the one responsible.
However, a couple of other points come to mind that (at least to me) seem much more important than whether your fiance will be stuck for money damages:
1. If the mother has primary physical custody, is your fiance paying support, and is it adequate? If he isn't, then I think if this whole thing does go to court, even if the mom is responsible the judge may look badly on a "deadbeat dad."
and most important of all..
2. If, while under his mother's custody, the 11-year-old child was somehow able to get control of a car, drive it and cause damage, isn't this something your fiance should be much more concerned about than about how much money he might be stuck for? What if the boy had killed a person? Then there would be a lot more to worry about than fixing a bumper...one or both parents could end up losing their homes. And suppose the child had been killed himself?
The mother obviously isn't providing adequate supervision. If I were you I'd stop worrying about nickels and dimes your fiance might want to keep from his ex-wife or girlfriend, and start worrying about going to court to seek custody himself. Unless of course he's not capable of supervising the kid either, in which case maybe you should put your heads together and find someone who is.
Whoever has legal ownership of the car and carries the insurance bears the financial responsibility for both cars.
The child should be getting time in a juvenile facility if a police report was filed. If not, he needs help.
Depends on where you live but as I recall he would not have any financial responsibility in this matter as the child was under the supervision of mother.
In whose care the child was at the time of the incident is of NO import. BOTH parents, outside the limits of the insurance policy (if applicable) are legally and financially responsible for the damage(s) caused by the child.
Under the facts stated here, your fiance and his mother have potential liability. However, under the common law, they are not automatically liable (but there may be state law to the contrary in your jurisdiction).
Their obligation under the law is to act reasonably. Did someone unreasonably supervise the child? Did someone unreasonably allow the child access to the car?
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