medical bills

[scottishgal]

Texas - My husbands ex has custody of their 11 year old daughter. Her husband carried insurance while she didn't work, but now she has insurance on the daughter. My husband and I tried getting insurance on her through our employees health plans, but were told we could not unless we had custody. In the divorce papers it does not state that he (my husband) is responsible for insurance or any medical bills. The ex states that we have to help pay for some dental work (we already helped out once to the tune of about 400 dollars), and has been told that she is to use her child support for that. She also says we owe her husband for all the time he carried insurance on the daughter. What are our rights?

 

[shanney27]

Unless your husbands divorce decree states that you HAVE to pay those costs she can smack her lips about it all she wants...you don't. She could take you back to court and ask a judge to order you to pay half. You could offer to do so as that is the decent thing to do and this is his child, but legally unless the order states that you have to pay for it...you don't.

 

[scottishgal]

It's not that we don't want to help out, it's that she expects it. She does this every year around our anniversary and the daughter's birthday. This year she is turning 12 and when they got divorced they agreed that when she was 12, if she decided she wanted to live with her dad, they would arrange for that to happen. The ex has been having problems with her husband (fighting a lot and they even split up for a while) and I think she is scared that the daughter doesn't want to be there anymore. We will help with the dental bills if necessary, don't think we are like that, but I just wanted to know what our rights are and if we owe the husband money for when he carried them all on his insurance.

 

[shanney27]

That's great that you guys are so willing to help. I know that we are ordered to carry health insurance and cover half of uncovered expenses. We also do help with other stuff by choice. For example he has braces and we pay 1/2 the payment every month. Obviously that is cosmetic, but we want him to have beautiful teeth, so we do it. :} I think you guys should do what you are comfortable with financially and just remember it is for the child. Do not let her attitude affect you. Good Luck!

 

[meleahk1]

My husband and I tried getting insurance on her through our employees health plans, but were told we could not unless we had custody. In the divorce papers it does not state that he (my husband) is responsible for insurance or any medical bills

what insurance company is telling you this? I worked for employee benefits with a major telephone company in the us, (cobra specialist) and the insurance companies we dealt with always put the employees child on the policies even if the child didn't live with the ncp and/or their new spouse.

I had my stepson on my insurance policy and he lived with his mother.

my stepson lives with his mother now and he is on my husbands policy through the workplace and they live in Ok we live in Fl.

The laws do run different from state to state and all companies write their policies with the insurance policies to try and make all employees have medical coverage for them and their families, however, the insurance policies MUST abide by the state and federal laws via each state. With this said, some companies will not allow a stepchild to be on the policies unless that stepchild lived in the home, which may be the case with your workplace, but the father of the child should be allowed to add the child to his insurance policy regardless.

just wondering.

good luck