Legal Question in Family Law in Texas

Re: Getting my ex to pay half of medical cost.

Most divorce decrees have a provision stating which parent is responsible for the medical costs, both the payment of the insurance premium and the payment of uninsured costs. Generally each party is responsible for 50% of the uninsured medicals. If your decree has such a provision, the answer is yes, you can sue for 1/2 of the medical costs. If your decree does not have such a provision you could file a petition requesting your decree be modified to add such a provision.

You are not required to have a lawyer, but it generally helps to have someone who knows the system and the applicable family laws. However, unless the amount is significant, sometimes it is not worth the costs of an attorney to pursue it. For instance, if you only have $500.00 in unpaid medical expenses an attorney is likely to charge a retainer of approximately $1500-2500 to hire on to the case. You may get a refund of a portion of your retainer in the end, if the litigation moves quickly and inexpensively. But you will still have to come up with the initial retainer.

If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to call. I practice in Williamson County.

Best wishes.

Betsy F. Lambeth

[email protected]

512-255-7191