There Is an Obligation to Provide the Other Parent Notice
Video Transcribed: Do you have to notify your ex of a change in health insurance costs for your children? That’s the question we have today. I’m Oklahoma Lawyer James Wirth, and it’s part of a series that we’re doing on child support in Oklahoma and the Oklahoma Child Support Guidelines.
The question is, “If there’s a change in the insurance premium, do you have to notify the other parent of that?” And that is statutory. It is part of the Oklahoma Child Support Guidelines and it is in the Oklahoma law books. You can find it in title 43, section 118F.
And that is in subsection H5. Actually, it’s H4. And basically, what it provides is that the parent providing health insurance coverage shall furnish to the other parent and to the child support enforcement division of the Oklahoma Department of Human Services if services are being provided with timely written documentation of any change in the amount of the health insurance, or I’m sorry, healthcare cost premium carrier or benefits within 30 days of the date of the change.
So you do have an obligation to provide the other parent and DHS, if they’re an interested party in the case, with notice of the change in premium within 30 days. And then it also provides, “Upon receiving timely notification of the change of the cost, the other parent is responsible for his or her percentage share of the change cost of the health insurance.”
And if they don’t pay the proper amount going forward, if the health insurance premium goes up and you give them notice within 30 days, and then the other party doesn’t pay the increased cost, that can be enforced just like any other child support obligation. You can do that through contempt through judgment.
Sometimes, the health insurance premium may go down. If that’s the case and there’s an overpayment by the other side, then that can be offset by any past due to child support that’s owed, or the statute actually allows that to be repaid over a 36-month time period.
So if the parent overpays because there’s been a decrease in the amount of the insurance premium, then the parent that is receiving the benefits of child support actually has 36 months to do a repayment schedule, unless the court finds that it needs to be done in a different way, basically finds, unless the court finds that this 36 month period is not in the best issue of the children. So if the court finds that, the court could order something different. But that’s what the statute provides. If you need to speak to a Tulsa family law attorney or a Tulsa Child Support Collection Attorney
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