Legal Question in Family Law in Missouri

My son's father has not been involve in my son's life for 11 of his 14 years. Last year, he decided that he wanted to be involved. Child support has been deducted from his military disability retirement monthly, but it is not the amount that he owes, so he is currently around $30,000 behind in child support. I have reason to believe that he is being paid "under the table" for work that he does for his brother, so he doesn't have to pay the required amount of child support he owes. He decided that he wanted to add our son to his medical insurance as of June 2012. He lives in Rhode Island, while my son and I reside in Missouri. I am the only one who is able to take our son to the doctors, therefore, I am the only one who is able to sign the financial responsibility document at the doctor's office. I have had to pay all medical expenses for my son, including medication, surgeries, etc. up to this point. In our child support paperwork, it states that I will hold insurance on our son, but that is only because the father did not show up for court and had already made the decision at that point that he didn't want to be involved. So I told the judge that I would keep medical insurance on our son, because otherwise he wouldn't have any. My question is, the medical bills are now coming to my house in the father's name. Who's responsibility is it to pay these medical bills? Any advise you could provide would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!


Asked on 2/01/13, 2:58 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Anthony Smith LawSmith

As you Son is a minor, the medical providers can come after either parent, or both. According to your description of the facts, the father can chime after you for any amounts he if forced you pay to the providers. But, you can raise the support stars as a defense. Please don't confuse support and custody with how a parent "earns" the right to start out maintain a relationship with their child.

Good luck

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Answered on 2/01/13, 7:44 pm


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