In Tx, How is dental care handled for divorced folks w/ kids? The financial part...?

Question

In the state of Texas, for divorced folks w/ kids... how is dental care handled?

Basically what I'm asking is this: If we , meaning my husband and I pay for his daughters braces in full... can we get that counted towards child support? OR is Mom automatically responsible for 1/2 the cost? We have read the divorce decree between the tow of them and it states they each pay 50% of all medical costs... but doesn't specify about dental.

Mom is the custodial parent, my husband non- custodial. We carry all the insurance - health, life, dental. My step- daughter needs spacers, retainers, jaw surgery and then finally braces. All but $1,000 bucks is going to be out-of-pocket for us and Mom doesn't want to help out at all! Not to mention we pay a TON in child support- they take 40% of my husbands pay. Which is fine and dandy but I think she should have to pay SOMETHING for her dental care. NO?

This is going to prob end up costing us about $9,000 - not including jaw surgery.... I would like to get some credit for that w/ the courts if possible. Considering we have to take this out of retirement to pay for it.

Answer 1

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Answer 2

Medical and dental insurance, including a special mention of orthodontia, travel, tuition and related  matters are addressed (or should be) addressed in the final divorce decree regarding the matters of the dependent children. Usually one parent is responsible for providing coverage and out-of-pocket expenses are shared as specified in the agreement. Your husband's attorney should have seen to these details.

(These decisions vary from case to case; they are not a matter of state law.)

Answer 3

Wow, I'm surprised that isn't dealt with in the original papers.. since it is such a substantial amount, if Mom isn't willing to pay her half, I would go see an attorney and ask for the order to be modified to include that she is responsible for half of dental expenses not covered by insurance.   Do not just deduct child support, that could get you into trouble.. get the order modified.

Also, here are a few pointers for you... in playing the insurance game.. sometimes, the specialists can help you cut costs.. for example, sometimes things aren't covered.. like orthos.. but, if the orthos are required after surgery, they may be covered.. also, sometimes some of the required surgeries for dental work is actually not covered by dental, but medical insurance may pick it up.. for instance, under my plans, dental doesn't cover surgery for TMJ, but medical does.. read your policies for medical too to see what loop holes you can find..

yes, it's possible and even likely that with an attorney, you could get half of the dental paid.. and you can't get it without asking for it, since it isn't in the papers.. go see an attorney..