In my opinion she is required to provide insurance and she has done so. How she pays for it is irrelevent. I.e. its a wash since both parents provide insurance at no cost to either of them - I presume there is no cost to a military person or his family.

But every state and even court is different.

So is stepdad's insurance the primary and Tricare the secondary? Because that is the law. If both parents have to provide, then she is providing via her current husband.

Not sure about your state, but in ours the math works out like this.

In our case, DH pays health insurance for our entire family through his employer. Employer pays for DH's portion, and he pays the balance to insure me, our two DD's, and SD. The total that comes out of his check monthly is close to $950. The bulk of that is to cover me. All three kids cost about $375/monthly to cover. That amount is divided by three, so in theory it costs $125 to insure SD. (It usually costs the same to insure ten kids as it does one, so the $375 is the total deduction for the employee to cover ANY children under the health plan.

BM makes $23/hour, but works only 16 hours/week. Even though her earning capacity is FAR greater, CS imputes her income at state minimum wage, since she's lazy as hell, and refuses to be gainfully employed. I digress. So on the support worksheet, there are two columns, one for each parent. DH and BM's gross income creates the percentage rate for the ratio each of them are expected to contribute to the expenses of raising SD. I've rounded the amounts for easy calculation.

Let's say DH makes $4000/month and BM makes $1000. Therefore, DH is responsible for 75% and BM 25% of SD's support. That means that DH gets a 75% credit on CS for the insurance expense (even though he PAYS 100%, but whatever), and BM's support payment is reduced by her 25% of the expense, or $31.25/month. If health insurance is through a state program, the same percentage rate is used to repay the state program, but ONLY by the person who does NOT receive assistance. For example, if BM were to enroll SD on our state health program, and DH did not have private insurance available for SD, DH would have to repay the state monthly for 75% of the state's cost for insuring SD ONLY, and that amount would be deducted from the support payments to BM. BM would only receive the CS portion of DH's payment. Does that make sense?

Since the BM in your case has a SO that provides health insurance for the skid, it is calculated as if BM were the one paying it, since it is provided through her household. During a support modification, BM will have to provide a statement from her SO's employer showing the cost breakdown for each person enrolled on his plan, under his name. If they have five kids enrolled, then she can only claim a credit of the TOTAL cost to enroll ALL of the children, divided by the FIVE kids. The result of that would be the amount split between your DH and BM to cover their child. So in short, NO, he will not be responsible for paying the insurance for anyone but his child, and that will be a shared expense between both parents.

Now if there are extensive, extra out of pocket medical expenses (not insurance premium related), your DH may be ordered to pay half. Same with extracurriculars. However, most courts will assume that the custodial parent be responsible for any other expenses of the child, as they are the one receiving child support. Probably more info than you needed. Hope that helps.

Also, if you didn't know, or haven't checked it already, most states have an online support calculator that allows you to input the specific dollar amounts for wages, expenses, insurance, and the percentage of time spent with each parent. It can give you an estimate that's pretty close to what your DH can expect to pay. Just Google "state name + child support calculator", and it should bring up the site. The calculator will also provide the percentage breakdown and expected total child support contribution that will be expected from the parents, based on their combined incomes. Good luck.

I am so glad I found this site. Finally I see I am not alone. I just spent several hours last night with the same kind of worksheets, trying to figure out the amount my DH is going to have to pay if his crazy ex takes him back for more support, which she says she will eventually do. Why? Because she voluntarily reduced her hours at her job for various and sundry reasons. Oh, and when she does work extra, it's to pay back money she stole from her job and she plans to tell the court that she is volunteering her time where she works. She used to work 37 hours a week. Now she works 15 or 20 on average. They insisted at the last hearing that my DH's overtime from the previous year was the amount they were going to use as his income even though there was no longer any overtime. Why do I think they are going to impute nothing for her? Because we keep getting the crappy end of the stick no matter what. For Steppypoo, the info that I had to get from so many sources that was kept from us from my DH's ex was crazy. I know we have to have information protection but come on. Some of this is necessary. How can they get away with all this crap?

I am pretty sure there must be a way for you to get that info by going around her.

This is why an attorney would be important. When computing support, one parent can't unilaterally decide NOT to provide the pertinent information needed for the courts to determine a fair and equitable monthly payment. Both parties are required to be transparent in their hours worked, gross pay, and the child's portion of medical premium and copay costs. Both parents have to disclose all sources of income, other children they support, and the correct number of hours that the joint child spends at each parent's home.

Steppy, the BM can't decide NOT to give the court medical premium information. If medical coverage is available, then the parent that provides it has to give the breakdown of how much it costs monthly for that coverage, sans the cost to cover the others that may be on the policy. There are ways to circumvent BM for this info. Does your DH have a copy of the medical card? He should, because BM is required to provide that to him if she's the one with the medical insurance (even if it comes from her husband). Call the insurance company or the HR department of the SF's employer. Ask for a breakdown of the cost. If they refuse the info to you, have your attorney call. If that doesn't work, then dispute the amount of support with the state until she does hand the info over.

Also, if she has decided to work less hours, your attorney should be requesting her wages be calculated at her "earning capacity", or the highest amount she has grossed in the past two years. Her income should NEVER be imputed at zero, because as long as she is able-bodied, she's expected to make something to support her child. Minimum wage at the very least. If she chooses not to work, that's her deal. But that doesn't mean that because she makes that choice, your DH is responsible for 100% of the child's support.

You can get a consultation with an attorney for less than $100 in most places. Just know that if you allow the figures to be "fudged" for the support calculation by not holding BM's feet to the fire, your DH will be stuck paying more than he should for at least two years. It's worth it to get it right the first time around than trying to prove a substantial change in circumstances later.