notification of childs health care decisions to ex-spouse

[zygote]

I live in Wisconsin, near the boarder of Michigan. I am divorced, and have remarried to a woman with a 12 year old child from a previous marriage. We have joint custody of the child, and physical placement is with us. My wife's ex is responsible for providing health insurance for the child. The amount owed after his insurance has payed is split 50/50 between he and us. My health plan allows me to claim the child as a dependant, but specifies the father as the primary insurer.
Recently, (5 months ago)we found out (through the grapevine) that the childs father has been having the child see a therapist. Once we knew this, we set up an appointment with the therapist to find out what was going on. As you can probably surmise, comunication between my wife and her ex is minimal at best.
The child is psychologicaly healthy, (which we knew), but what it boiled down to, was another attempt by the father to coerce the child into living with him.
Three weeks ago I receved a bill from the childs father (once he knew we knew, the bills start showing up). Low and behold they date clear back to December of 1998.

That's the background info, here's the question; is there any rule in Wisconsin that requires a parent to notify the other parent (in a divorce situation) of intent to have the child receive psychiatric care/counseling or any other non-emergent type care. Also, if there is, could it be circumvented by taking the child to a health care provider in Michigan?
As a side note, the counseling the child has received has been most helpful with the childs ability to recognize what the father's trying to do and the visits have diminished considerably. Hope this question hasn't been too longwinded! zygote

 

[LegalBeagle]

I live in Wisconsin, near the boarder of Michigan. I am divorced, and have remarried to a woman with a 12 year old child from a previous marriage. We have joint custody of the child, and physical placement is with us. My wife's ex is responsible for providing health insurance for the child. The amount owed after his insurance has payed is split 50/50 between he and us. My health plan allows me to claim the child as a dependant, but specifies the father as the primary insurer.
Recently, (5 months ago)we found out (through the grapevine) that the childs father has been having the child see a therapist. Once we knew this, we set up an appointment with the therapist to find out what was going on. As you can probably surmise, comunication between my wife and her ex is minimal at best.
The child is psychologicaly healthy, (which we knew), but what it boiled down to, was another attempt by the father to coerce the child into living with him.
Three weeks ago I receved a bill from the childs father (once he knew we knew, the bills start showing up). Low and behold they date clear back to December of 1998.

That's the background info, here's the question; is there any rule in Wisconsin that requires a parent to notify the other parent (in a divorce situation) of intent to have the child receive psychiatric care/counseling or any other non-emergent type care. Also, if there is, could it be circumvented by taking the child to a health care provider in Michigan?
As a side note, the counseling the child has received has been most helpful with the childs ability to recognize what the father's trying to do and the visits have diminished considerably. Hope this question hasn't been too longwinded! zygote

It is a good question.. and my answer is simple. You ignore the bills and let him petition the courts for you to pay. He will need to justify to a judge why he took the child there without the mother consent or knowledge. It is highly unlikely a judge will order the mother to pay any part of these bills.