Don't inlcude employer paid health insurance in child support calculation
A recent Alabama Court of Civil Appeals opinion held that where the custodial parent did not pay the health insurance premium herself, but rather her employer paid it entirely, the trial court should not have included the premium in calculating child support.
The opinion in Jones v. Jones, released on July 22, 2005, found that because the emplyer provided the helath insurance for the child, it should not be included on the child support calculation. If the premium were included, it would result in a higher child support award from the non-custodial parent. If the custodial parent pays the premium out of their own pocket, it does get taken into account in the guidelines.
What does the custodial parent need to do in order to have the Court consider whether or not the non-custodial parent has to pay college support for the child? What do the courts consider college support?
The custodial parent must file a petition for post minority support (sometimes called a Bayliss petition) PRIOR to the child's nineteenth birthday. The court will conisder what percentage of tuition, fees, room, board and books the non-custodial parent should pay, if any. Under a recent case, they can now also order that the non-custodial parent continue providing health insurance during that time period. Your question has prompted me to write a separate post on this issue that will go into a few more details. Check back next week for that.
If the non-custodial parent's employer does not offer health insurance, but the non-custodial parent's spouse's employer does and coverage for the non-custodial parent's children is provided based on court order, is the cost of that health insurance factored in for child support calculation?
Dianne - generally, yes. Sometimes we negotiate the amount of the premium to include in the guidelines down depending on if the insurance was already in place and needed and it costs no more to add the children.