Child medical expenses

I will only answer about this part of it. You can not be denied credit for an unpaid medical bill. If you are paying something, even if it’s only $5 a month, and the hospital accepts this payment then you have in essence set up a payment plan, though the hospital may say they do not have payment plans. Keep records of any payments you make. If you do pay $5 a month, then make sure to keep any documentation. Even if it is sent to a collection agency, keep in mind that your credit will not be ruined.

Here’s the statute that you are interested in:
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The court ordered him in January of this year to provide medical coverage for his son. He was hospitalized in May, so several months have passed. I have telephone conversation with my case worker that she has sent him letters that he was out of compliance and that she tried to contact him. He is negligent in this case.

cheryl

Then the only thing you can really do is to stay on CSE and make sure that this ends up in front of the judge that ordered medical coverage.
Keep records of all payments so that you have something to request reimbursement with, but I don’t suggest waiting for him to pay. You want to stay in good standing with the hospital regardless since he has an ongoing/reoccuring issue, but the hospital can not refuse treatment for non-payment.
Maybe the attorney or some others have some suggestions…

The problem here is that the court order doesn’t define anything other than providing my son with medical coverage. It doesn’t define expenses not covered by insurance and who is obligated to pay them and/or how much to pay.

Also, so far as medical coverage, it didn’t define how much or what type of coverage he needs to provide. At this point he could pick anything… High deductible low cost per month and because he is least likely to take him to the hospital the bills won’t come to him.

For one, I tried calling the hospital and explaining that I have a court order that his father is responsible for providing his health insurance. They stated they can’t get involved with that and that the person who brings him to the hospital is the one responsible for the bill.

I am not sure that the CSE will get involved either. When I went to court and brought previous bills that I wanted to have his father to pay half the expenses the case worker told me they don’t get involved in medical expenses.

So do I need a lawyer to take him to court for these bills and establish a written agreement that he should be responsible for a certain % of the unpaid medical expenses as well as establish that he can’t just opt-out on cheapest insurance coverage available?

The sad thing is that he admitted that he was negligent and he really didn’t try on his end to push the issue. Knowing all of this you would think he would do the right thing and have the expenses transfered in his name but I won the unlucky lottery.

If I thought I wanted a sperm donor for a father I would have went to the sperm bank.[:(!]

cheryl

If he failed to carry insurance at all then he was clearly in violation of the order. You can file a motion and order to show cause and ask the court to hold him in contempt for failing to follow the order. You should let the court know how much the medical expenses were that he failed to pay and the court may order him to pay a portion in order to purge the contempt.

In addition, if your order does not deal with the payment of unreimbursed medical expenses you should file a motion to modify child support. The court has the authority to split these expenses between parties and you should ask them to do so.

P.S. Please feel free to bring up this or any other topic on our live call-in show every Wednesday at 11:00 a.m. EST. Visit radio.rosen.com/live for details

Helena M. Nevicosi
Attorney with Rosen Law Firm

4101 Lake Boone Trail, Suite 500
Raleigh, North Carolina 27607
919.787.6668 main phone
919.787.6361 main fax

Charlotte Office
301 McCullough Drive
Suite 510
Charlotte, NC 28262
Main Phone: (704)307.4600
Main Fax: (704) 9343.0044

Durham & Chapel Hill Office
1829 East Franklin Street
Building 600
Chapel Hill, NC 27514
(919) 321.0780

The response posted above is based upon the limited factual information made available and is not intended as a full and complete response to the question. The only reliable manner to obtain complete and adequate legal advice is to consult with an attorney, fully explain your situation, and allow the attorney sufficient opportunity to research the applicable law and facts required to render an accurate opinion. The basic information provided above is intended as a public service only, a full discussion with an attorney should be undertaken before taking any action. The information posted on this forum is available for public viewing and is not intended to create an attorney client relationship with any individual. These answers are provided for informational purposes only, a person should consult with their own individual legal counsel before taking any action that could affect their legal rights or obligations.

“The Court has the authority to split these expenses”. How is it USUALLY DONE??? In my case, I was ordered to pay 50% of all unreimbursed medical when my income is FIVE times less that the ex’s income AND HE IS REIMBURSED FROM HIS BUSINESS FOR ANY OUT OF POCKET MEDICAL EXPENSES!(DOUBLE DIPPING!!!) Question: HOW COULD ANY COURT BELIEVE THIS IS “FAIR”??? NO ONE ELSE DOES!!!

Medical expenses should be split pro-rata based on your income. So if you earn 30% of the income you should be paying 30% of the unreimbursed medical expenses. It seems as if he was ordered to pay half so you can file a motion and order to show cause to try and get him to pay his half of the medical expenses.

If other circumstances have changed as well you could file a motion to modify child support and ask the court to adjust the way unreimbursed medical expenses are split.

P.S. Please feel free to bring up this or any other topic on our live call-in show every Wednesday at 11:00 a.m. EST. Visit radio.rosen.com/live for details

Helena M. Nevicosi
Attorney with Rosen Law Firm

4101 Lake Boone Trail, Suite 500
Raleigh, North Carolina 27607
919.787.6668 main phone
919.787.6361 main fax

Charlotte Office
301 McCullough Drive
Suite 510
Charlotte, NC 28262
Main Phone: (704)307.4600
Main Fax: (704) 9343.0044

Durham & Chapel Hill Office
1829 East Franklin Street
Building 600
Chapel Hill, NC 27514
(919) 321.0780

The response posted above is based upon the limited factual information made available and is not intended as a full and complete response to the question. The only reliable manner to obtain complete and adequate legal advice is to consult with an attorney, fully explain your situation, and allow the attorney sufficient opportunity to research the applicable law and facts required to render an accurate opinion. The basic information provided above is intended as a public service only, a full discussion with an attorney should be undertaken before taking any action. The information posted on this forum is available for public viewing and is not intended to create an attorney client relationship with any individual. These answers are provided for informational purposes only, a person should consult with their own individual legal counsel before taking any action that could affect their legal rights or obligations.

I am a mother of a two year old that has asthma. When he has an asthma attack and I have to go to the emergency room the bills rack up into several thousand dollars.

In January I went to court to have my son’s father provide him with child support and health insurance. After he was court ordered to provide health insurance he did not do so until 6 months later after he received a letter that he was out-of-compliance from the cse agency. During this time my son was hospitalized after having another severe asthma attack.

I had him put on health insurance in December (last year) because I wasn’t sure when he would have insurance through his father’s plan. Now that I received the bill which is over 10k my insurance has paid about 9k and there is a balance of rougly 1600 dollars.

As of current he is only providing 350/month which just barely covers daycare and through his neglect to cover his child with insurance has put me in a financial strain.

I feel like he should be required to pay for these medical expenses; however, I am not sure how I should go about this…

My other dilemna is this is not his 1st attack the other one was over 30k but since I was in school I was able to get assistance. All of these bills are in my name and he explained that he will give me the money; however, he doesn’t want to put them in his name and take responsibility.

If he doens’t pay them they will go on my credit while he gets by free. If have a few more episodes like this I beleive that I will not be able to finacially be able to recover. As his father shouldn’t he also be responsible for at least some of his medical bills?

If we both provide him with health insurance would I be able to get a judgement that he also be responsible for half his medical expenses especially in cases were my son bills mount up to several thousand dollars?

cheryl