Ex not providing dental insurance

[texasmom777]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? TX

I have primary custody of our child. According to the divorce decree, my ex is required to provide dental insurance for our child. He does provide medical and I have a copy of that card, but he has not gotten dental. I know his employeer offers dental. I've asked him to add dental do I can take our son to the dentist. He will not respond or take action. What can I do, outside of spending money on lawyers, to pursuade my ex to provide dental insurance?

Thank you.

[WittyUserName]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? TX

I have primary custody of our child. According to the divorce decree, my ex is required to provide dental insurance for our child. He does provide medical and I have a copy of that card, but he has not gotten dental. I know his employeer offers dental. I've asked him to add dental do I can take our son to the dentist. He will not respond or take action. What can I do, outside of spending money on lawyers, to pursuade my ex to provide dental insurance?

Thank you.

What's Dad's reason for not adding him? You are free to take this back to court, but it's hard to say whether or not you'd spend more money than you'd save. A lawyer would be helpful, but it's possible, with a lot of research, to file things yourself.

[texasmom777]

i don't know why he won't add him. He's just ignoring me. you said I may be able to file myself? How do I do that?

[Zigner]

He may not be able to add until the next open enrollment...

[stealth2]

I actually don't get a card for my dental. Just sayin'.

[texasmom777]

If I notify the court, will they give a consequence for him not following the order?

[WittyUserName]

i don't know why he won't add him. He's just ignoring me. you said I may be able to file myself? How do I do that?

Well, you would file for contempt. Which, again, you would need to research how to do on your own. But I would think very hard about a cost/benefit analysis if I were you. Does the child have major dental problems? Are you SURE that the kid's not enrolled? If you take this to court and Dad has a valid reason, you'll have incurred some time and expense and the child may still not get enrolled. It's not like you just fill out a form and wham, it's all done.

If the child needs to see a dentist, I'd be more inclined to make sure the child got the care he/she needed first and deal with the money issues after. But that's me.

[CSO286]

If I notify the court, will they give a consequence for him not following the order?

They can, but more likely, they'll just tell him to get the child enrolled as soon as possible.
Of course, there may be valid reason for not enrolling the child and Dad will have an opportunity to present his side to the court as well.

[RRevak]

I actually don't get a card for my dental. Just sayin'.

My daughter doesn't have a dental card either. Her dental is tied into her health insurance as a bundle. Her insurance is Blue Cross Blue Shield PPO. Provider said that's how things are slowly being done more and more these days. OP are you certain your son doesn't have dental already?

[texasmom777]

Well, I've already decided to take him to the dentist and pay for it if needed. But i'm suprised the state does not handle dental insurance similar to the way medical is handled. The state got his medical info from the provider and forwarded it to me. That process took 4 months. I guess I'll just try to figure out how to get the court to enforce the order.

[texasmom777]

He has blue cross blue shield too. I called them and they said dental is not covered.

[cbg]

FYI, if his dental insurance is provided by his employer, it's not as easy as just going to HR and saying, add my kid to the dental. Virtually all plans nowadays, with only rare exceptions, are subject to IRS Section 125 regulations, which prohibit adding or deleting dependents except during an open enrollment period or when there are specific, IRS approved and plan permitted qualifying events. It's not something you can do whenever you please.

Also FYI, not all BCBS plans include dental. The fact that you called BCBS and they said there is no dental, is NOT proof that your child is not enrolled in a dental plan somewhere. Not all dental plans provide ID cards, and of those that do, not all of them provide ID cards for children.

[texasmom777]

FYI, if his dental insurance is provided by his employer, it's not as easy as just going to HR and saying, add my kid to the dental. Virtually all plans nowadays, with only rare exceptions, are subject to IRS Section 125 plans, which prohibit adding or deleting dependents except during an open enrollment period or when there are specific, IRS approved and plan permitted qualifying events. It's not something you can do whenever you please.
Also FYI, not all BCBS plans include dental. The fact that you called BCBS and they said there is no dental, is NOT proof that your child is not enrolled in a dental plan somewhere. Not all dental plans provide ID cards, and of those that do, not all of them provide ID cards for children.

I understand the open enrollment concept. He had dental insurance for him at one time, so he either still has it for him or he canceled the insurance. I just don't know because I've been trying for 4 months to get a response from him. He is ignoring me.

I already asked him if he has some other provider for dental insurance. He will not respond. The only reason I got the medical info is because the state provided it.

[Radia]

Have you sent him a letter return receipt requested, or is this in emails or texts?

[nextwife]

I understand the open enrollment concept. He had dental insurance for him at one time, so he either still has it for him or he canceled the insurance. I just don't know because I've been trying for 4 months to get a response from him. He is ignoring me.

I already asked him if he has some other provider for dental insurance. He will not respond. The only reason I got the medical info is because the state provided it.

OR, his employer uses a different provider for dental now.

Mine used Delta Dental with Blue Cross/Blue Shield. I don't think I had a card either. Using in network providers did make a difference, though.