Medical costs

[4mykidz]

Hi,
My divorce agreement states that any extra medical costs not covered by insurance, should be split between myself and kids father. I normally pay co-pays and prescriptions without hassling my ex for small amounts. However there has been costs recently that amounts to over $500 that I have paid and want my ex to pay his 50% responsibility. He refuses to pay and says that he pays Child support and that he is not due anymore, even though I have made him aware of what the agreement states.
The question I have is, how do I go about making him pay for his half? Do I need to hire a lawyer or can I approach the court myself, which would obviously not cost as much. Someone also mentioned small claims court, is this a possibility?
Thanks for any advice.

[Giggles]

Have you tried sending your ex a certified letter?

What you can do is send him a letter via certified return receipt that states all the details.....when and where and why the medical procedure was, a copy of of the bill and a copy of your payment.  Send a copy of the decree and highlight where it states that you are to split these costs.  Then I would kindly request that reimbursment be made NLT and state a date.  If he doesn't respond or fails to respond by the "no later than" date, then you can take it to small claims and ask that he pay all costs.  This gives you the "evidence" necessary as well to state your case!!

My next question is this.....do you have joint legal custody?  Was the x informed of this medical procedure?  Was this procedure medically necessary?

[4mykidz]

Many thanks for the reply.

We do have joint legal custody. The procedures were simply eye tests for the 2 kids, plus the glasses and lenses for their glasses. 2 pairs for 1 kid and 1 pairs for the other. The insurance he has for the kids is not good and barely pays for anything. ($30 co pay for each kid included).
So basically the cost is 3 pairs of glasses plus eye tests.

Certified letter may do the trick. I will certainly do this as evidence that he has been informed of the costs, etc. He has been supplied with copies of the paid receipts already, but is ignoring them.

[forego101]

There should be a medical support enforcement dept. that handles your case. at the county/parish in which your case is handled. Most forms can be found on the web via internet on the county's/parishes' website. Most states only will enforce medical expenses that are under a year old and if all the yearly costs exceed a certain amount of oney. Where I live, it's $289.00 per child per calendar year.

In most cases if there is an order regarding medical reimbursement, you have to notify other party, give them "adequate time to pay or respond", and if they refuse to pay or try to settle on an amount that is below what the court states, then file a form with the court; the court will then send a request to the other party and CC on you and also make sure you've requested payment befre contacting them the other party then has 30 days or so to respond and if theyrefuse or don't respond, a hearing will be scheduled with a med. suport enforcement officer; be sure that if you go te route of making a complaint to enforce reimbursement, that you also attach all copies of receipts paid by you as well as the insurance explanation of benefits.  If and when you go to court, make sure you also take those receipts and EOBs with you.

In most cases, the other party will either pay on the spot or the expenses he/she onligated to pay will be tacked on the garnished child support, say and additional $20-$50 bucks per week until the medical reimbursement is paid in full.