teen drivers and joint physical custody

[cruisnfamily]

If DS has to be on your insurance won't the car have to be in YOUR name? I don't think a car can be registered to a minor. And from what you described, NWIH I would purchase a car, insure it and leave it in that ex's name. The insurance excuse is a great reason that the car has to be titled over to YOU. Then when DS is 18 you title it over to him. Make sure you meet ex at the bank or wherever and get the signed title and both sets of keys, before you fork over any $$$$.

YOu can title a car in a minor's name. DD then 16 bought her own car last summer and it is registered(titled) to her. She and the car are both on our car insurance. 3 cars, 3 drivers, 1 policy. She pays us a portion of the insurance every month. She could go out and get her own insurance policy as well, even though she is a minor. The reason we did not have her do this is that it is INSANELY expensive for her as a new teen driver to get her own policy. Much more economical to add her to ours and have her pay us.

 

[FayeW]

I'm afraid I got stuck on the "I don't think DS should pay one dime for Driver's Ed" part....why the heck not? Tell your son that you are prepared to pay half, and his father should pay the other half, but if Dad refuses, he will have to pay the other half himself.

You shouldn't have to pay double because your child's father is a jerk. The idea of having to find his own money to pay for the other half might motivate your son to have more adult conversations with his father about the expectations with this driver's license.

I have a hard time wrapping my brain around the "every 16 yr old deserves a license and a car handed to them" mindset. Maybe it's because on a Disney message board there is just more disposable income available, but it certainly wasn't the norm when I was a teenager, and it is not the norm with the people I know.

Edited to Add: Maybe a better approach would be to do the "Jedi Mind Trick" on him. Have your son tell him that you won't agree to either the license or the Driver's Ed. Then he will agree to both of them just to spite you.

 

[Tinkmom75]

OP's son could be just 14. In Michigan you can take drivers training at 14 and 9 months. Since he is eligible in December you do the math...

You can have an exclusion in MI. The insurance company will either require you to include him and rates go up or specifically exlude him. Ex will get away with not paying higher rates by exclusion.

Drivers training is graduated in MI session 1 is 3 weeks with class time each night and a certain amount of road time. Then you have to wait at least 90 days and drive a set amount of hours with your parent to take session 2. When they take the driving test they are supposed to have had 50 hours driving time with parent 10 of which are at night. The driving test can be taken any time after session 2. For example my DD took session 1 Jan 09, session 2 May 09, drivers test in Nov. 09 and turned 16 Feb. 2010.

This can be quite costly. Session one anywhere from $275 to $350. We paid another $75 for session 2 and $35 for driving test then a driver's license fee.

At Secretary of State they will look at your DS and tell him that the parent has the right to take the license away for any reason until they are 18.

I would go to the court and ask them to spell it out. It is a large amount of $$ and time to not have it set. But I do think in the end he will be able to pull the license at any time.