I pay child support in Michigan. Part of that support is for out-of-pocket medical expenses my ex-spouse incurs for the children, above a set yearly threshold. Friend of the Court rules state that she must submit these expenses to me within 28 days of the date she is notified of a balance due from a provider. My ex has repeatedly submitted expenses that were several months old. The "healthcare enforcement specialist" at our local FOC approved these for collection regardless of the rule. I objected to this, and a family court referee found in my favor. My ex appealed the referee's finding to the trial judge. The judge upheld the referee's finding in my favor. I filed a grievance with FOC. They said their specialist did nothing wrong, and it did not matter what the court ruled. I currently have a grievance of this response pending with the chief judge of the circuit court. My ex has again submitted healthcare expenses that are outdated, and the FOC worker has again approved them for collection. Other than again going before the referee, is there anything I can do to stop this abuse? I pay my support in full and on time. Why doesn't my ex-spouse/FOC have to play by the rules?
So your saying your ex submitted the expenses directly to you? Then what you just tell her your not paying because they are past the 28 days? She then submits them to FOC because you didn't pay? FOC then goes ahead and notifies you, that you must pay? Are you sending copies when you receive them to FOC with your reason for not paying? You should be doing that, to cover your butt.
http://courts.michigan.gov/scao/resources/publications/manuals/focb/focb_hbk.pdf
The FOC will help collect the other parent’s share of extraordinary medical expenses (the support recipient’s out-of-pocket expenses that exceed the children’s ordered annual ordinary medical expense amount and any uninsured medical expense paid by the support payer) if the following four conditions are satisfied:
o The amount exceeds the annual ordinary amount in the order, or the requesting parent is the support payer.
o One parent requested payment from the other parent within 28 days after receiving an insurer’s determination that an expense was not covered.
o The other parent did not pay within 28 days of the request for payment.
o The FOC’s assistance is requested within one year after incurring the expense, or within six months after the insurer has denied coverage, or within six months after the other parent failed to pay as required.
What I am thinking is the problem here is, is you tell mom you won't pay, or you just don't pay. So mom waits out that time(I believe that time is either 21 days or 28 days for you to pay her), she then submits them to FOC. FOC as you can see by this must assist up to a year after mom incurred the expense, or up to 6 months after the insurer has denied coverage or within 6 months after the other parent failed to pay.
So how does FOC know when mom actually sent them to you? FOC goes by what mom submits, mom can say she gave them to you Oct 21st and be within her 28 days, so FOC must assist by collecting them from you. So they are in the right, your grievance is going to go nowhere. Your going to have to object to everytime mom turns around and submits them to FOC for your failure to pay.
When mom submits them to you in the first place late, you need to make copies and send it all to FOC, stating you received them on x date and you are not paying them because mom submitted them late. That could put an end to it, but it might not, mom can then object to that and you end up with a hearing anyways.
Honestly though, your kids were seen and received medical attention, that mom paid for. Your CS order has uncovered medical bills addressed, your responsible for a portion. Is this all worth making mom play by the exact rules here for you? You could just pay the bills if mom is in a reasonable time frame, and a couple months late is not that bad IMO, save yourself from having to go to court everytime when FOC then tries to collect from you. FOC must assist in collecting by the information sent to them, so they will continue to do this and continue to be in the right, they only have moms side. So you have to keep going to court to not pay cause mom is not following the rule exactly.
Seems to me you should not complain, as your taking mom to court, and not having to pay for care your children actually received. Or you could pay mom as your children actually received the medical care when mom gets around to submitting them to you and save yourself going to court. But there is no way around this, either pay them submitted late, or object when FOC comes collecting from you.
