For Which Kinds of Insurance do Parents Share Costs when they Divorce?
In Utah, when parents divorce, they almost always share insurance costs for their kids.
These insurance costs are on top of child support that’s paid. This means someone pays child support, and then pays insurance premiums and out-of-pocket costs.
As we all know in this day, there are more types of insurance than there are stars in the sky.
So, which types of insurance do parents share costs when they divorce?
As with so many things in the law, the answers is, “It depends,” but here are the most common types:
- Health insurance.
We also call this medical insurance. It’s what you have through your work or school. There’s no getting around covering your child after divorce. It’s required in the law.
- Dental insurance.
Dental insurance might be a waste of money (the numbers don’t really work out well when you start delving in to them), but divorced parents almost always share dental insurance costs for their kids. Dental insurance isn’t quite as universally shared as health insurance, but almost.
- Vision insurance.
Vision insurance is significantly less often shared, but it’s still shared pretty often. Thankfully, vision insurance is inexpensive, and you almost never incur costs except for glasses and contacts.
- Psychological insurance.
Honestly, almost no one has a separate insurance for psychological services. It’s almost always covered in a person’s health insurance. The reason I put it here as a separate insurance is to let you know you’ll likely share costs for therapy and other psychological services for your kids.
Can Parents Share Other Insurance Costs?
The list above is not an exhaustive one. Parents can share whatever type of insurance they want.
For example, if they want life insurance on their kids, they can share it.
That said, I have never seen a court order parents to share any type of insurance other than the four listed above.
How Are Costs Shared?
How are the costs shared between parents for these different types of insurances?
Almost always a straight 50/50 split.
The child’s portion of premiums are 50/50, and out-of-pocket are 50/50.
One person almost always fronts out-of-pocket costs (e.g., co-pays, medicine costs, etc.), send the receipt to the other parent, and then is reimbursed in thirty days.
