Do we pay now or wait???

[diz]

What is the name of your state?CA-Last week we got a bill from the ex wife. Ex wife took daughter to dentist. Her dentist said her insurance would pay for 1 out of 4 teeth. She didn't give dentist our insurance info so we called dentist & gave them our insurance info and found out that her insurance would possibly pay for 2 teeth. The dentist office said that once they get $ from her insurance (closed that bill out) then they'd bill our insurance. After that they'd issue her a refund for what the insurances paid for.

She paid $1400 at time of visit. She billed us last week (2 days after visit) for $700. About 2 days after that we wrote her an email telling her that the insurances would be paying for more than thought and that she'd get a refund and that after she received the refunds we'd pay her for 1/2 of the remaining amount (because amounts are not known at this time).

She wrote us today telling us that she is going to file papers tomorrow for not paying (less than 1 week after dentist visit). She wants us to pay her now and she'll refund us.

1) we don't have the $700 because she's getting 1/2 of husbands paycheck (long story).
2) this isn't uncovered costs yet - or are they?
3) we don't think she'll tell us of refund and/or we'll have to take her to court to get refund.

Do we pay her now (or start making payments to her) or to we stick to guns & say no she's going to have to wait until insurances have been billed & costs are known (and let her take us to court)? Can she even take us to court at this point?

 

[seniorjudge]

What does the judgment in hubby's lawsuit say about this?

 

[Content]

I would think that she has to wait until all claims have cleared the insurance companies to actually determine what's 'unpaid' because if you both have insurance then there shouldn't be much if anything left to still split between you both. Besides if she files this soon the judge is likely to be mad since you had to contact the dentist to give your insurance info because she didn't. But make sure you keep copies of all corespondence between yourselves and her , and yourselves and the dentist office, and the insurance company and yourself, that way you can keep track of exactly what's going on.

 

[seniorjudge]

I would think that she has to wait until all claims have cleared the insurance companies to actually determine what's 'unpaid' because if you both have insurance then there shouldn't be much if anything left to still split between you both. Besides if she files this soon the judge is likely to be mad since you had to contact the dentist to give your insurance info because she didn't. But make sure you keep copies of all corespondence between yourselves and her , and yourselves and the dentist office, and the insurance company and yourself, that way you can keep track of exactly what's going on.

And your basis for this answer comes from which part of the judgment?

 

[Content]

Standard orders say that parents split unpaid medical bills, so an unpaid medical bill is definied as what is NOT paid by the insurance company(ies) depending on how many insurance policies are available to the child. There are 2 different insurance policies that are going to be paying this claim, so how is it possible to determine unpaid medical expenses until the insurance companies both determine what they are paying?

 

[Content]

And your basis for this answer comes from which part of the judgment?

And if you would reread my post I said I would THINK...THINK not that it was set in stone.

 

[seniorjudge]

And if you would reread my post I said I would THINK...THINK not that it was set in stone.

Thank you.

I just wanted to poster to realize that you were guessing and had no real answer.

 

[diz]

child support order follows family code (1/2 of uncovered medical costs).

would this be considered uncovered since the dentist billing isn't completed yet and she'll be getting refunds?

 

[Content]

child support order follows family code (1/2 of uncovered medical costs).

would this be considered uncovered since the dentist billing isn't completed yet and she'll be getting refunds?

I still stick to my original opinion that until the insurance companies are done processing and determining what they are covering that it's not uncovered. Once they are done then of course the remaining amount should be split and paid as soon as you can possibly afford, but otherwise you never will know what's going on.

 

[Motherto6]

diz ~ $1400 is a huge chunk of change and she probably needs money to pay her bills. I know I could not wait until all claims have been settled to get this money back. I think she is probably just in panic mode because she needs the money and doesn't have it. She is probably just venting about suing you ~ doesn't everybody in America?

 

[lisa2568]

I would think if this ex was really strapped for money, she would've set up monthly payments with the dentist. If your ex is anything like my husband's ex, if she does get the refund - you may never see your half of the refund. I guess you should speak to an attorney or someone more experienced in this stuff but we've really had to be on top of the whole medical thing when my husband had to pay half. There were many times where she got a refund or she billed us before the insurance paid anything claiming her attorney said that she could get half of the bill immediately.

 

[Content]

I would think if this ex was really strapped for money, she would've set up monthly payments with the dentist. If your ex is anything like my husband's ex, if she does get the refund - you may never see your half of the refund. I guess you should speak to an attorney or someone more experienced in this stuff but we've really had to be on top of the whole medical thing when my husband had to pay half. There were many times where she got a refund or she billed us before the insurance paid anything claiming her attorney said that she could get half of the bill immediately.

Classic example of why you never take legal advice from your ex!

 

[CJane]

What does the judgment in hubby's lawsuit say about this?

If/when you answer this question, could you include an answer re: any timeframes noted? For example, if it says anything like "uncovered costs to be paid to CP within 30 days of receipt of statement".

Thanks.

 

[diz]

california family code says (in short) that the parent must submit a bill 30 days to the other parent for uncovered medical cost and the other parent has 30 days to pay for uncovered costs.

uncovered costs are not clear at this time because the insurances have not paid.

we probably won't see the $ if she gets a refund (if we even find out). what we'll have to do is take her to court to get it.

as far as her needing the $, she gets $1400 a month in child support for 2 kids...husband (us) has been bringing home about $1700 a month (after paying child support)... Her husband earns about $5000-6000 or more a month PLUS they own a tax service AND she has a 2nd part time job. We don't think that it's a lack of money issue.

 

[Motherto6]

I'm pretty sure that you can't find out what is uncovered until you find out what is covered.