"reasonable and necessary medical"

[Ref]

SD goes to a therapist a little less than once a month. Insurance covers the expense. BM has not told DH of any diagnosis, it is assumed none. SD gets upset every now and then, but is a teen with parents who don't get along. Nothing unusual. Grades are usually A's and B's. She has a good amount of friends and stays out of trouble.

DH pays for all medical bills. (physical co-pays, prescriptions etc...). He pays half of all dentist bills. Does he pay for mental health co-pays as well? BM studied to be a therapist and loves the thought of SD going to one.

His parenting agreement states that he pays all "reasonable and necessary medical expenses".  Is it necessary if SD only goes less than 1x a month and has no specific diagnosis? Is it even medical?

The state is Fl

Thanks,
Ref

[msjanbo]

Unless you could prove that 1x/mos is unreasonable, I wouldn't think your DH could get out of paying for the co-pay.  However, if BM is refusing to give the diagnosis or include him in on what is happening, he could refuse based on that grounds.  Therapy can be on-going for years and unless BM is willing to include him in WHY it's needed and WHAT the diagnosis is, he could refuse paying on that basis, claiming that he doesn't feel it's necessary nor doing any good if it's "only" 1x/mos and SD is not showing any "mental effects" like bad grades, poor behavior, etc.  

My DH's PBFH is a hypochondriac that takes the kids everywhere for every little thing.  We have now refused to pay for these visits unless we are informed in advance AND agree to them.  Elective doctors visits are NOT covered per my DH's papers, that's why we refuse.

GL

[Ref]

I wouldn't argue the unreasonable. Less than 1x a month is not excessive. Actually, I would argue more the case that it is not necessary.  She has not told him anything about the therapist exept the name of the clinic and the name of the social worker. That was after SD had gone 2x already.

Also, florida deviation for child support speaks of different items that you can use to deviate child support from. One is unusally high medical expenses and another is unusually high mental health expenses. I was thinking that in florida they make a differenciation between medical and mental health based on this an another document seperating the two.

Also, because it is not clear in the parenting agreement, would it be contempt if he didn't pay it based on these facts or would the court simply clarify and have him pay, if it is their finding?

[msjanbo]

If it's not clearly stated in the parenting agmt, I wouldn't see how DH could be charged with contempt.   However, I would say that 1x/mos wouldn't ever be classified as "unusually high" - he probably couldn't win with that argument.  

Our approach was that we felt it was not necessary, as my SS had no behaviorial issues warranting such treatment and, most importantly, DH was NEVER consulted, and NEVER given access or told about the "diagnosis".  Our parenting agmt requests both NCP and CP to consult each other when it comes to NON-EMER medical appointments and, more imp, ELECTIVE appointments, which I feel is the case in your situation.  Unless the child was/is exhibiting "symptoms" which could/would cause you to feel the appt is necessary (as our agmt states), you would NOT be responsible for paying for the visits.  

Of course, this is always up to interpretation by the courts and, as we've found, just because it's written on paper doesn't mean it's worth the ink it was written in.  My DH's PBFH has violated EVERY single term of the court orders and she has NEVER been held in contempt - sad, sad state of affairs.