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MY EX WON'T PAY HIS HALF OF OUR CHILDREN'S MEDICAL EXPENSES. HE IS COURT ORDERED TO DO SO. HE REFUSES.
Anonymous4 views5 answers
My ex husband is court ordered to pay 50% of our children's out of pocket medical expenses. He has yet to pay me anything. Yet he does acknowledge the bill. I send him every bill when I receive it (and I pay it in full) and keep track of the expenses which total nearly $700 now from the last 2 years. Does it just keep adding up or is there a time limit to when I can no longer collect? He has also paid a few medical expenses from urgent care visits he has taken our children to on his visitation days but has never sent me any bills, so I have no idea what he has paid. Am I responsible for any portion of those bills if he does not send me them as the court papers says they must be submitted to the other parent. Is this a small claims matter? Our divorce was clearly very contentious.
You're entitled to reimbursement per your judgment. Oftentimes the judgements says 50% after you pay the first $250 per year. Keeping track of the expenses and staying organized is really helpful. At this point, you need to file a motion for a show cause hearing seeking a money award against him for his share. Once you get a money award, you can send out a garnishment to his employer or his bank. Depending on your circumstances, you may want to eliminate that 50% share provision and have him ordered to pay cash medical support instead. Talk to an attorney in person to get better detailed advice.
Ronald Allen JohnstonFamily Law AttorneyBeaverton, OROR licensed ·
Contempt could work, but a better remedy is to file a motion to reduce your clam to judgment and then garnish on it. A better remedy would be to call/write your ex and tell him what you are dong and give him a deadline to make payments. Unless you are good at legal forms, you probably want to have attorney help you. RAJ
Create a worksheet that has the date of the service, the cost of the service, the amount owing after reimbursements and what your former spouses share would be. This would be a living document for you to keep on an on going worksheet. Send the spouse a copy with the supporting documents from the medical vendor and ask for payment. When it gets to a point of $700 and he has refused to pay I would think that would be sufficient to ask the court to enter a judgment against him for his share. With your pleading to the court you will have the worksheet, the demand letter and the supporting documents to easily prove you entitlement.
Lynn
Grants Pass
You are entitled to be reimbursed as indicated in your judgment. To enforce this, you can file a motion to enforce the judgment with the court where the judgment is entered. (This is not, as the non-Oregon attorney who responded here said, a "motion for contempt." Contempt is an extreme remedy, that is invoked only if the court orders him to pay following the enforcement hearing and he fails to do so.) You can ask that the court order him to pay not only his half of the costs, but also any additional costs you incur as a result of his failure to pay (interest, for example), and your attorney fees, if you incur any.
Whether you're responsible for the medical bills he incurred for the children, or whether there's a time limit for reimbursement, depends on the exact language of your divorce judgment. You should consult with an attorney in private to review it if you want answers to these questions.
You need to file Contempt Action against him for his failure to comply with Court Orders. He would be ordered to show cause why he should not be held in Contempt of Court for his failure to pay his portion of the medical bills and his failure to send you part of the bills that he incurred on behalf of your child. The forms for filing the action are available at the Courthouse in the Clerk's Office.
