Short answer. Yes. Rule 61, Section 7 directs that when the judgment or final order finds the person who has been providing support pendente lite not liable for it, the court shall order the recipient to return the amounts already paid, with legal interest from the dates of actual payment.
What the law says
it shall order the recipient thereof to return to the former the amounts already paid with legal interest from the dates of actual payment
Rule 61, Section 7 — Restitution. Read the full provision →
What the law says
without prejudice to the right of the recipient to obtain reimbursement in a separate action from the person legally obliged to give the support
Rule 61, Section 7 — Restitution. Read the full provision →
Restitution is the rule, not a favour
Support pendente lite is support ordered while the case is still being fought, before liability is finally decided. Rule 61, Section 7 deals with what happens when the final decision goes the payer's way: when the judgment or final order finds that the person who has been providing support pendente lite is not liable for it, it shall order the recipient thereof to return to the former the amounts already paid with legal interest from the dates of actual payment. The word is shall. Restitution is not left to the court's grace — it follows from the finding of non-liability, and interest runs from each date you actually paid.
The refund comes from the recipient
Note who is ordered to pay you back: the recipient of the support, not the State and not the person who should have been paying all along. That structure has a practical consequence. If the recipient — often the other parent, who received the amounts for a child — cannot or will not reimburse, your recovery does not end there, but it does change form. The rule anticipates exactly that failure and gives you a second route against the person on whom the obligation truly rested.
The separate action against the person truly liable
The section works in both directions. The restitution order is without prejudice to the right of the recipient to obtain reimbursement in a separate action from the person legally obliged to give the support — so a recipient who must return your money can pursue whoever actually owed the support. And if the recipient fails to reimburse you, the rule says you may likewise seek reimbursement thereof in a separate action from the person legally obliged to give such support. Either way, the loss is meant to land, eventually, on the person the law actually charges with the obligation.
What to keep and what to expect
Your restitution claim is only as strong as your payment records, because both the principal and the interest are computed from the dates of actual payment. Keep every receipt, deposit slip and transfer confirmation made under the pendente lite order, and make sure the judgment in your case actually contains the finding of non-liability and the order to return — that is what you will enforce. Expect collection to be the hard part: an order to return is a judgment like any other, and if voluntary compliance fails, enforcement or the separate action against the person legally obliged becomes the next conversation to have with counsel.