Legal Question in Family Law in Texas

Re: Implied Financial Responsibility?

Can she? Yes. Should she? Never. It is the same as if I were to open a charge account in YOUR name and charge items to YOU.

And it CAN end up on your credit report. How do I know this? It actually happened to me several years ago. There are still two items on my credit report that were the result of another person opening an account in my name. The merchants won't remove them, but you can have a statement put in your file.

You need to clear this up with the dentist immediately before something like this happens to you. If the ex-wife persists with this behavior, it is possible for you to obtain an injunction prohibiting her from doing that. Obtianing an injunction might get a little pricy, though.

Having said that, it is possible to ask the court to enforce the divorce decree to require her to pay her share. As to the relationship between your husband and the dentist (or any third party), that is between them and your husband. He, and the ex-wife, have an obligation to support the child. It is usually far better to work things out with the third party and leave the court action between the parents.

Re: Implied Financial Responsibility?

Obviously you do not have a legal responsibility here, but

people can set up accounts in other people's name. I would

write a certified letter to the dentist telling them to undo

this immediately. If they refuse, you can use court remedies

however they will be expensive. Two court options would be an

injunction or a declaratory judgment action. In the declaratory

judgment, you could also request attys fees to be reimbursed by

the dental office (I would probably bring the action against the

dental office and the ex-wife). Keep in mind that these would be

expensive for you to pursue and the best option is to work something

out.