The cost of raising a child in Texas can vary from month to month or even on a weekly basis. While regular child support payments might help address most of a child’s regular needs like food and housing, there are still many other costs that need to be accounted for. For example, how are divorced parents supposed to handle medical expenses that are not covered by insurance? This topic should be covered in a child support agreement.
Even if a child has health insurance coverage through one or both parents, out-of-pocket expenses are still a possibility. Uninsured medical expenses are any expenses that insurance does not cover, like deductibles, co-pays, prescriptions and more. These are usually the result of necessary medical care. A thorough child support agreement should address how parents will split the responsibility of these extraordinary medical expenses.
Since children can get sick anywhere and at any time, it is possible that one parent might end up being primarily responsible for taking a sick child to the doctor. This parent will generally have to pay medical costs like co-pays upfront, which means that he or she may need to seek reimbursement from an ex. The manner in which a parent should contact an ex for reimbursement should be laid out in the support agreement.
Unfortunately, there can still be issues even when a child support agreement clearly outlines how parents are to share medical expenses. One parent might disagree over whether a certain medical service was even necessary and refuse to pay. This is just one of many issues that Texas parents might face when dealing with child support and recovering costs that fall outside of regular payments. Seeking support to enforce an agreement is often necessary in this type of situation.
