Splitting Expenses

[Ohiogal]

My ex and I did talk, although I don't feel as if we got much accomplished. I told him that I questioned the phone amount b/c I had not heard a single word about it since he told me that it cost him barely anything to add our son on. So now I'm trying to work with him since I know our child connects his phone to my internet when at my house so he doesn't use data. As long as he's not using data on his Dad's plan when he's with me, then why should I pay the data used throughout the month when he's not with me? I did ask if there is anything that our child could do when connected to my Wifi that would sill cause his data to be used to be sure that I'm being fair and I also advised putting a limit on the phone use. He doesn't need to be on it playing games ALL day long either. It would be nice to have him interact with family every once in a while. Even if his dad disagrees with that, that will be a rule while he's at my house.

The insurance issue was glossed over so I'm bringing it back up to try and explain that I'm fine with paying a portion of the cost to add our kids onto his policy but not willing to split the entire policy into equal parts when just my ex's portion is approximately half of the entire premium.

I also added that if we are going to split these types of expenses, then I should be part of the decision regarding what plan to utilize. It's not fair for him to choose whatever insurance/phone plan he wants and then just expect me to split the cost. If we work together to choose a plan then we are in mutual agreement and it leaves no room for one parent to feel like they're paying for something that they didn't agree to. For example, I could have found an insurance policy much less than $100/month for one child (even though I know that some people have no choice, we did and he didn't give me the opportunity to enroll them in a less expensive policy). I figure no use in making major decisions right now but at the end of the year, we should sit down together and look at our various options.

A cheaper insurance policy might not be worth it because of what little it covers. it may be cheaper upfront and yet have a high deductible or copay. Make sure you are comparing apples to apples when you are looking at the policies.

 

[MomGT123]

A cheaper insurance policy might not be worth it because of what little it covers. it may be cheaper upfront and yet have a high deductible or copay. Make sure you are comparing apples to apples when you are looking at the policies.

We definitely are. Since mine is through a large employer, the deductible and out of pocket is lower but the benefits are higher. His is through his school so it's decent but does not cover as much as my job's does and costs must more since he is responsible for 100% of the premium.

 

[MomGT123]

This didn't occur to me until I went online to look at my cable/internet bill....

When our child is with me, he uses my WiFi for his phone so the data plan isn't even being utilized (I researched several sources to make sure that there wasn't any kind of activity that would charge the data plan instead of my WiFi).....therefore, any data that our child uses is when with Dad, not me. I don't allow our child to bring the phone in the car or when we go places b/c there is starting to be a huge dependence on playing games, you tube, etc. and I would like for our child to socialize occasionally instead of being focused on the phone morning until night. I even have printouts showing how much usage there is on my WiFi network on days the kids are with me compared to days they are with him (it's a HUGE spike). So now I really don't think it's fair that I split the phone bill because of data that is being used by the four people on the plan and none of it occurs when at my house.

I also went to the school's insurance site to compare their plans again. I took the most expensive plan available and calculated the childrens' portion of the premium. One child's portion would only be $80 on the most expensive plan possible which is still less than what he was asking me to pay. He may not like it, but I'm going to stand my ground on this because it's not fair. Not going to court over it on my part but I'm also not going to just give in now that I know what a difference there is between what I'm being asked to reimburse and what the most expensive option is and the fact that phone usage at my house doesn't even use Dad's data plan.

Dad thinks that I'm just being cheap and don't want to pay anything for the kids and that's not the case. I just want to pay my fair share, not mine plus part of his, especially when these things were decided solely by him without my input and in one of the cases I had offered a better and less expensive option.