Legal Question in Family Law in Washington

No, you cannot just take possession of the car without a court order allowing you to do so. Your husband should file a motion for contempt. The divorce decree, if well written, will indicate what remedies if any he has, for her failure to pay for the loan. If no remedies are provided, as part of the contempt motion, you should seek a judgment for the payments that your husband makes to keep the loan current to protect his own credit rating.

You mentioned that "The're pulling money out of our accounts," what do you mean by this? Has the situation already progressed to the point of a collection agency being involved? Is a judgment already obtained against your husband for failure to pay on the car loan? Are these automatic payments that were already put in place, for which you are supposed to be reimbursed by the ex-wife? In other words, how is it that anyone has the ability to pull money out of your bank account?

You can also ask the court, as one possible remedy, to allow you to take possession of the car since she is not making payments. You can also ask the court if you may have permission to sell it. In terms of the deficiency, I doubt the lien holder will sign off on the sale of the vehicle if it sells for less than what is owed and you are not able to pay the balance off at that time, or refinance it in such a way that you can give them other security so that they will sign off on the sale of the vehicle. There should be language in the decree of dissolution that covers this. Usually, it is called the "hold harmless clause" that says that if either one of the parties gets sued for, or has to take responsibility for the other's debts, then the person whose debts are being covered promises to reimburse the person who paid for those debts, including any legal fees incurred along the way. Note, however, that this will not help you with protecting your credit rating.

Sorry, these are not the answers you are looking to read this time I'm sure. Nevertheless, this gives you an idea of what you're facing. If your husband had an attorney at the time of the divorce, I suggest he returned to that attorney explain what's been happening, and since that person is most familiar with the situation it will not cost very much for that attorney to become familiar with the situation and hopefully handled.

Best of luck,