Medical payments under Legal Separation Agreement that is a court order.

[KMiddleton1]

My ex-husband & I had a Court Ordered Legal Separation Agreement in South Carolina before our divorce that stated he would pay half the medical bills of our son. It was also agreed that I would maintain health insurance for my son with my employer at that time (as I was already covering him). However, since last June, 2000, I lost my job with that employer and have been unemployed with no health insurance. Is my ex-husband still responsible under the legal sep. agreement to pay 1/2 the medical bills incurred for our son. He did not start paying "court ordered" support payments until April, 2000 also. He is telling me that he does not owe me the medical payment as I have no health ins. and that I would be responsible for the deductible either way and then he would have to pay 1/2. This was never stated in our legal sep. agreement and it was no fault of mine that my position was eliminated. Please advise. Thank you.

 

[Grandma B]

Was the separation agreement made a part of your final divorce decree? Do the same stipulations apply now that you are divorced.

If so, you probably have an obligation to see that your son has health insurance. I realize you lost your job through no fault of your own and private healthcare coverage is prohibitively expensive. Have you checked with the State about getting Medicaid coverage for your child?

If your ex is to be paying one-half the medical expenses for the child, those expenses would also include the deductible.

I wish you good luck, and do make a call about Medicaid. Your child needs healthcare coverage and so do you.