How Does My Children’s Medical Insurance Work With Divorce in Massachusetts

Medical insurance is available to the children from a policy held by either parent. For instance, if a parent has employment and they’re offered medical insurance with a family plan and they take that family plan, that premium is going to be more expensive than if they are just covering themselves individually. The premium cost is considered when calculating child support but an important thing to note is that it’s not a dollar for dollar savings. For instance, if your child support calculates out to be $200 per week, and say the insurance costs $50 a week, it’s not true that you would pay $250 if you didn’t provide the insurance. It’s not a dollar for dollar savings by providing the insurance. In other words, you’re better off generally not providing the insurance in the calculation because you don’t get the full benefit of the amount that you’re paying for the premium in the reduced amount of child support that you would be paying if you weren’t providing the medical insurance. The medical insurance can be provided by either spouse and that often changes as life goes on. In that case, generally the parties would agree as to who is going to provide the medical insurance, or they go back to court and have the child support recalculated, taking into account the new premium and the person who is providing it.

This informational blog post was brought to you by Cynthia L. Hanley, an experienced Mansfield, Massachusetts Divorce Lawyer.