Uninsured Medical Expenses in a Massachusetts Divorce

Uninsured Medical Expenses in a Massachusetts Divorce

Uninsured medical bills are discretionary with the judge in terms of the allocation of the payment although in the vast majority of cases, it’s put 50-50 because if one parent is paying full child support guidelines according to the child support guidelines. That was taken into consideration when the child support guidelines were written but there would be uninsured medicals bills and they’re split. One of the biggest problems though with uninsured medical bills is how one party informs the other party of the medical bill. Lots of times, people don’t want to have monthly contact with their former spouse over bills and be asking for money.

However on the flip side of that, it’s really not fair to present to one spouse a whole year worth of bills or two years’ worth of bills even if the agreement says 50-50. What my preference in agreements is to put that the bill itself, whoever incurred the bill on behalf of the child, has to be presented to the other spouse within 30 days of receipt of the bill or payment of the bill and that the spouse who’s paying the half bill has to give the other party the funds within 30 days. What that does is prevent a buildup of bills that someone can use to ambush the other party. Also, it’s a method for both parents to stay informed of what the child is doing medically, what appointments they’re having and what the child’s medical needs are.

This informational blog post was provided by Cynthia Hanley, an experienced Massachusetts Divorce Attorney.