Can my ex-husband withhold medical expenses from child support?
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Can my ex-husband withhold medical expenses from child support?
My ex-husband is refusing to pay child support because, he says, my portion of the kids medical bills was taken out of his HPA account at work, therefore I owe him that money. However, the medical claims were only submitted to his insurance account and then his Family HPA kicked in and paid the balance. The HPA account is an account that his employer contributes to for medical expenses – kind of like an escrow account. Because of the HPA account the balance on the invoices not covered by his insurance were never sent to the kids secondary insurance company and CSHCS (for my daughter with CP). Can he deduct the amount from my child support, and can he claim I owe him for my portion even though he has his account set up not to bill our other insurance companies.
Asked on July 12, 2011 under Family Law, Michigan
Answers:
FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 12 years ago | Contributor
The answer to your question should be set forth in the child support agreement and order (if any) that you an your former husband would have concerning your dissolution and your children. The child support agreement (if you have one) would be an order of the court concerning your marital dissolution and would govern the obligation of your former husband to his children.
If there is no child support order and agreement between you and your husband concerning your children, then you need to get one in place for the good of the children. Most States in this country have guidelines for the amount of monthly child support obligations based upon income and expenses on a monthly basis of each parent to come up with th amount owed monthly for child support.
Once a child support order is in place, then most likely it would take in account issues concerning the HPA Account which apparently is a "savings" account for medical care that deposits into are typically not deemed part of income for tax purposes.
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