Are you facing a dilemma paying the insurance costs with child support? Albany child support attorney Jean Mahserjian has years of experience with family law and providing parents valuable support with child support and child custody.
Question:
My daughter is on her dads and stepmothers insurance this is court ordered. He and i split cost of EOB’s and any medications. She has recently began going to a therapist and on our first visit I was told there was a $1200 deductible that would have to be paid before insurance would kick in. Since she will be going every week this deductible will be covered pretty quickly by my payments. They have 5 other people on this policy themselves and 3 other children. I am only responsible for my daughter so I don’t think it would be fair or right for me to pay the whole deductible I think it should be split between all members in order for me to not pay for them. I am wondering if a court would agree and if I should file some type of motion to have it addressed.
Answer:
Issues pertaining to multiple family members in mixed families sharing an insurance plan and a deductible can present some thorny issues. In my experience, different Support Magistrates handle these issues in different ways. At the outset, no – it would not be fair for you to have the shoulder the cost of a deductible for all of those family members. If you can, the best way to resolve this would be to discuss this with your daughter’s dad and see if the two of you can come to a resolution. You may or may not need to have a attorney memorialize that agreement in a stipulation and/or order depending upon the history of your case. However, if you cannot agree, you need to determine if it is worth a trip to Family Court to file a modification petition. If this could happen again, it behooves you to resolve it now.
This legal question was provided by Avvo and answered by Jean Mahserjian, an experienced Albany Child Support Attorney. This does not consent an attorney client relationship.
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