Updated on August 22, 2022
If you are facing a divorce, your children are naturally your primary concern. An important component of this concern is maintaining your children’s health, which necessitates having adequate health insurance.
Divorce naturally leaves parents with many questions—not the least of which is how you will keep your children covered under health insurance.
The State of Texas agrees that the best interests of your children should always be the primary focus of every divorce decision made. As such, state law requires that provisions for your children’s health care be adequately addressed in your divorce.
If you have questions about keeping your children covered after divorce, contact a Killeen family lawyer. An experienced lawyer will help you find insurance options for your unique situation.
Determining Co-Parenting Responsibilities
Your divorce agreement will delineate your and your ex’s co-parenting responsibilities, including the following:
Financial responsibilities
Physical responsibilities involving your children’s care and maintenance
Legal responsibilities
Part of these important responsibilities includes securing medical insurance for your children, which is not optional. Both federal and state laws require that children be adequately insured.
Providing Medical Insurance
Often, one parent becomes the primary custodial parent (the parent with whom the children primarily reside) while the other parent has a visitation schedule with the children. In these instances, the parent with the visitation schedule is responsible for providing the children's health insurance and paying child support.
The primary custodial parent is viewed as already contributing to the children's support by providing for them on a daily basis.
Typically, the parent with the visitation schedule includes the children on his or her health insurance policy—whether it is employment-based or purchased privately. However, the cost of health insurance cannot exceed 9% of the non-custodial parent’s annual resources.
If both parents have medical coverage, the children can be covered by whichever policy is most beneficial.
There are many options for covering your children, and it can sometimes be difficult to know which one works best for your situation. Contact a Killeen family lawyer to find an insurance solution that will work for you and protect your children.
Calculating Payments
If the parent who is responsible for covering the children’s health insurance does not have access to reasonably affordable and adequate insurance, the custodial parent may add the children to his or her plan. In such cases, the amount paid by the custodial parent will be added to the other parent’s child support payments.
Extenuating Circumstances
If neither parent has access to reasonable health insurance for the children, the court will consider these alternatives:
Purchasing private medical insurance (if it can be purchased for a reasonably affordable price)
Having a stepparent cover the children’s health insurance (if either parent has remarried)
Obtaining government-sponsored medical coverage (for those who qualify)
Related: Can I Stay on My Ex-Spouse’s Health Insurance After a Texas Divorce?
Call Us Today to Schedule a Free Case Evaluation with a Killeen Divorce Lawyer
Health insurance for your children is an important issue for any divorcing parent. Attorney Brett Pritchard at The Law Office of Brett H. Pritchard in Killeen, Texas, is committed to helping clients like you understand their rights and obtain the child support they need to continue caring for their children in the best way possible.
Mr. Pritchard is here to help; contact us online or call us at (254) 781-4222 to schedule a FREE case evaluation.