How does a child support order provide for my children's medical and dental expenses?
If the parent paying child support has health insurance or other health coverage on a group plan available through an employer or organization, or can get health insurance at a reasonable cost that may be extended to cover your children, the court must order him or her to provide coverage for the children.
The Guidelines say that the judge must consider health care coverage to be available at a reasonable cost if it is available through an employer.
The judge can decide that the cost of health coverage is unreasonable if it is a serious hardship for the parent paying child support.
If you are providing health coverage, the amount you pay is taken into account when the judge figures out how much you will pay or receive as child support. When you fill out the Child Support Guidelines Worksheet, you subtract the amount that you actually pay for health coverage from your gross weekly income.
The parent who has custody of the children is responsible for the first $250 per year of routine uninsured medical and dental expenses for the children covered by the child support order.
For amounts over $250, the Court can order the other parent to pay all or part of the routine uninsured medical and dental expenses.
Produced by Mass. Law Reform Institute Last updated November, 2009
