Hello everyone, I have a legal question... I was not the custodial parent of our daughter, @ 17 yo after high school, she came to live with me, father dropped off her belongings in front of house & now she's been with us, she's always conscious about her bad teeth, father never took her to dentist, I then hussled to get her in to have her teeth cleaned and braces put on before she turned 18, long and short of it, we had everything done in 3 months, now I have this $5000+ bill, is the father obligated to pay for half?. help me please, thank u

What does your court order say? And why wasn't the child put on any insurance? Are you the mother or another figure in the child's life?

Depends on how the divorce is written - in NY the other parent must consent to medical fees (unless it's an emergency situation) in order to be responsible for all or half. Dental fees are included.

Where?

When she moved in with you did you get some sort of order for support? When you were divorces (assuming you are the mother) what did the divorce order say about medical expenses with the child(ren). Those things will matter most. In my state too unless it is an emergency the ncp must agree to the procedure in order to be held responsible for any of the bill.

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Originally Posted by califdadof3

What does your court order say? And why wasnt the child put on any insurance? Are you the mother or another figure in the childs life?

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I am the mother, ex never took her to have dental care, now that I have her I tried to help her out, we do have dual coverage but it still amounted to $5000... so yesterday, the court just allowed him to pay $300 for the 3 months that she was 17 yo... I just felt it's very unfair...

Why did the Court order the way it did? I'm not clear on what the support order said.

I don't understand why the issue of dental care was never addressed until she came to live with you. Didn't you have visitation with her?

The court felt that he's only due for the 3 months until she turned 18th, so thereby I'm stuck with the rest of the bill

In NY (and I realize it's immaterial to you) that would not be the case - IF he agreed to the dental care, then he's half responsible no matter what her age.

Child support stops at 18 in your State?

The problem is that you did not have any custody order, you did not have any child support order and no order from the court that made him responsible for medical care.

So you took the child to the doctor knowing he had no legal responislbity to pay. You needed to take husband to court the day he droped her off at your door and get all the legal things straight FIRST>>>>

So YOUR child needed medical attention, ( well wantedi it perhaps) not sure what you had done for over 5000 dollars.

Again why it could not wait till the child was 18 and would have had to pay for their own?

If anyone really owes you the money the child should work to help repay the bills if they wanted it that badly.

The husband had a moral duty, but no legal duty. In fact since you did not hve legal custody of the child, you should not have even had it done without his permission first

Again - how did so many years go by without proper dental care (unless OP never spent time with the child and, therefore, didn't know)?

The problem as others have stated is that you didn't have the proper court orders to take her to the dentist (or anywhere else) and cause bills that you would want help to pay. You were not the custodial parent. Obviously the court is not going to order support from before she was living with your or after she is 18 (a lot of states stop support at 18). Were you ordered to pay support while she was living with the father and you were the ncp? Did you not have visiation? If you were never ordered to pay support that is his loss because he should have asked for it but it is too late now if you were concerned about her health why didn't you bring it up years sooner?