Are there any Texas Family Law people out there? I have a big question.
Facts:
I live in Tarrant County. Divorced 2+ years ago. I am the non-custodial parent. Ex and I agreed to a child support amount less than the state mandate which was tweeked upward by the judge but approved. The divorce papers state that I must provide health insurance for my daughter through my employer as longs as it is available. It does allow me to convert to her health insurance if health insurance is no available to me as long as I reimburse the ex for the cost of the insurance through her employer.
Question:
Ex tells me today that she has started covering my daughter through her insurance and is using it as the primary (has not asked for reimbursement because I am already paying through my employer). The insurance is probably comparable or even better coverage than I have. Here’s the rub. The annual cost through her employer is about $2500 a year. The cost through my employer is about $7200 a year. Ex would be perfectly happy to allow me to drop my daughter off of my insurance as long as I reimburse her, which I have no problem with. I am sure she would be willing to sign an agreement that could be filed with the court.
So what can I do. As long as I have something in writing signed by her am I ok to drop my daughter from my insurance. Is it essential that I file it with the court. The only reason I am hesitant to do this is the whole child support amount. I don’t want some fucking judge deciding that I should pay more, even though my ex and I agreed on an amount.
Yes! Anything you are paying out of pocket right now has a very real possibility of being called “gifts” by the court and you will told to pay back payments and the out of pocket you are spending now will be wasted. I don’t care if you and your ex get along great and never fight do everything through the courts.
Of course you are right about the gift thing. I should have known better. Still wondering about changing insurance though. Would the court go along with it without reassessing the amount I currently pay in child support.
I do not feel comfortable saying they won’t. Texas courts are in a drive to show they are tough on dead beat dads. The problem is the dead beats never show up too court or give money so when upstanding guys try to do the right thing we are the ones who get hit. IT makes the numbers look better. The could or could not change the child support but don’t count on things remaining the same.
How much more does it cost to insure your child through your coverage? I would think that it’s not a lot.
Its $601 a month to cover her through my insurance. It would be $206 to cover her through my ex’s insurance.
Time for local counsel my son. But your post reveals the issue here: “Ex and I agreed to a child support amount less than the state mandate which was tweeked upward by the judge but approved.” So you and the ex were in agreement but he exercised his/her discretion. Local counsel can advise you and it might even come down to the assigned judge. Trial judges of any ilk have a lot of discretion.
Here is a little true story. Circa 1979 I was in a Missouri court waiting to argue a Writ of Prohibition and the judge asked if we minded if he did an uncontested divorce hearing first. We, of course, agreed. This judge was very good but also had a fetish for professionalism to the point that I kept a blue suit in the office in case I was called to court and had a grey one on that day. Seriously. Well, the husband doesn’t show and the wife is on the stand giving her testimony and at the end the husband saunters in unshaven in a Mickey Mouse T-shirt and jeans. I turned to my opposing counsel and whispered “what to make a bet as to what happens?” He smiled and shook his head no. Almost 30 years later this is close to a verbatim quote from the judge: “You look like a semi intelligent young man, so please explain to me WHAT IN THE HELL YOU ARE DOING IN MY COURTROOM LOOKING LIKE THAT.” Long story short, the judge doubled all amounts in the proposed divorce decree. Now did this get fixed at a later date? I have no idea. But it does demonstrate my point. Go talk to someone who knows the judges. Best.
Every attorney I know who spends any amount of time in court has a story like that. And they are all true. I actually do not mind as I think the courts need to keep a firm hand on respect for the institution because it helps everyone in the long run.
Seems to me you’ve go nothing to lose. Best case for you is that the judge says ok, and you agree to just reimburse your ex for her coverage. You get to keep an extra $400/month to do what you want with. On the flip side, he could tell you that the $400/mo difference needs to go to the ex in add’l child support.
Either of these two are better than not doing anything and paying for double coverage. Heck, if you do end up having to give your ex the $400 difference, hopefully she’d agree to just put 100% of that into a college fund or something.
Either way, you’re no worse off money-wise, and the kid is better off (unless the ex just spends the extra $$ on beer and new shoes). Better than the insureance company getting the money.