Legal Question in Family Law in Massachusetts

Hello. My divorce agreement states (paraphrase) "husband shall maintain health benefits for benefit of wife for so long as she is eligible to remain a covered person under said policies and under applicable law." It also says that I need to provide notice to my benefits admin within 30 days of final judgement to tell them I'm divorced and preserved wife's cobra rights. Several days after final judgement, I called my benefits admin and they told me there was no option to keep her on policy, and she would be mailed COBRA paperwork. Divorce agreement stated I am to provide in writing to wife all options and obligations available to maintain coverage. I thought I satisfied all the requirements. a.) I notified my employer within 30 days that I was divorced. b.) I asked them what options were available for ex-wife c.) I was assured COBRA would send her available options in writing. She is now taking me to court on contempt, charging that I willfully and deliberately removed her from the insurance without notice and never provided her any of the options. I called COBRA, and they couldn't give me any specific info due to privacy laws. However, they told me the COBRA packet was returned undeliverable with no forwarding address, so she never got the COBRA paperwork. I believe I did everything that was required of me and followed the requirements in the divorce agreement. Could I please get someone's opinion on this? Thanks


Asked on 1/21/14, 9:58 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Thomas Taranto Law Office of Thomas J. Taranto, P.C.

Based on the information at hand, and not having reviewed your separation agreement, it would appear that you may not be in contempt under the legal standard.

Please feel free to contact our office should you require any assistance on this.

Regards,

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Answered on 1/24/14, 5:56 am


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