As a divorcing parent, you may have more issues to settle than the division of your shared assets and debts, and whether you should pay or receive alimony. In addition to making custody determinations, family law courts may issue other orders regarding the support and care of your child moving forward. The medical support order, for example, outlines your and your child’s other parent’s obligations regarding health care coverage for your child.
If the court includes a medical support order in your divorce settlement, you may find it helpful to understand what that means for you and your child.
Ordering medical support for children of divorced parents
According to the State of Connecticut Judicial Branch, medical support orders may specify that you, your child’s other parent or both of you should contribute to health care coverage for your shared child. This may include obtaining coverage through your employer’s health care program or a state benefit plan. Instead of such coverage through a health care plan, the court may order you to pay a cash amount toward medical support for your child. Additionally, the court may also dictate that you must pay a specified amount for or percentage of your child’s medical and dental expenses that health insurance does not cover.
Enforcing medical support orders
The state’s Support Enforcement Services aids in enforcing medical support orders. Should you fail to fulfill your obligation as outlined in your medical support order, you may receive a court summons. To help you comply with the court’s order, the services notify your employer about your support order and the requirement that you have your child added to your health insurance policy. The SES may also issue an income withholding order to hold back amounts from your earnings for any required cash payments in your order.
Understanding and following through with medical support orders may help ensure your child has access to the health care that he or she may need.
Subscribe To This Blog’s Feed