My ex-wife took me to court for an increase in child support and sued me for $1400 which is supposedly my half of the an orthodontic bill for my oldest child. My ex-wife paid cash</font id=“red”> for my daughter’s braces. I carry insurance on the kids and recently found out that she also has insurance on them. She has never told me that she also carried insurance on them to. I believe that she paid cash and filed the bill with her insurance, made possible because she had a receipt for cash, but the dentist filed my insurance company, which would mean that she “double filed” the same claim and received more money than she is admitting to. I recieved the dental reimbursement checks from my insurance company and would give them to her, not knowing what they were for or if they belonged to her or the dentist. With a receipt that stated cash payment, she could easily submit the receipt to her insurance for reimbursement on her own without the dentist help or knowledge. I believe that she has probably doubled filed other things because it doesn’t make sense that she would hide the fact that she also had insurance. I only found out because her insurance company sent a reimbursement check to my home address in her name and my six year old son opened it without knowing or understanding that he should never open anyone else’s mail.
One of the codes on the invoice was “709- please inform us if this is a permanent address change” which also makes me suspicious of her actions. Why would she be putting my address on anything?
My questions are as follows:
How can I find out if my ex-wife did file the claim with her insurance company like it hadn’t been filed against my insurance, and got reimbursed twice, which would mean that I would owe her less than $1400.
Who do the checks belong to that come in to me, in my name, from my insurance carrier, for dental procedures performed on my children?
Does it matter if my ex-wife paid the bill for the visit, but the check came to me and is addressed to me alone?
Is she allowed to have procedures done on my kids without my authorization, like the braces?
Can she put me down as being the responsible party for medical bills when she is the primary caregiver without my express consent?
She has never paid her half of the medical and dental bills because I never pressed the issue that she did even though the divorce decree says that she should. I even tried to have my name taken off as the responsible party and the bills sent to her, but the doctor’s office will not do it. The said they determined that by the parents date of birth or something, but isn’t that making bills or obligations for me, in my name without my consent?
I am asking because my ex-wife does not keep me informed on any of this. She only informs me about these issues when she is expecting me to receive a check that she feels is rightfully hers. She wants the checks, but makes sure that I get the bills. I didn’t disagree until we went to court and evidentally it didn’t mean anything that I had given her all of the reimbursement checks, even though they were addressed to me and me alone, and they say I still owe her $1400.
Could I argue that the braces weren’t medically necessary? My daughter had a tooth that needed to be extracted, not bucked teeth or a serious overbite or anything noticeable to require braces.
Kenya M. Dalton