hankf
New
Reged: 11/30/07
Posts: 4
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I am under my wife's health insurance she gets from her company. She was under mine for a few years until I became a consultant. We are about to go into mediation, and she wants to take me off her insurance by the end of the month. Is she required by law to keep me on her insurance until the divorce is final?
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theanswerguy
Platinum
Reged: 04/12/07
Posts: 2137
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Yes .
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Never let your sense of morals get in the way of doing what's right. Isaac Asimov
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hankf
New
Reged: 11/30/07
Posts: 4
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is there any exceptions or possible loop-holes she could find?
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gigi
Platinum
Reged: 11/06/06
Posts: 4674
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There are two different issues here. The first is the requirement to keep all things stable while the case is pending, including insurances. That first requirement can be negotiated out of, it's part of the divorce process, and some states, some judges, aren't as strict about it as others.
BUT the SECOND issue is COBRA, which requires that if you lose your insurance through losing your job, quitting, retiring early, widowhood or divorce, the employer is required to contact you with the opportunity to continue to remain insured for... I think it's 18 months... if YOU pay the costs fo the insurance (that would be the cost to insure you separately as well as whatever costs are picked up by the employer under thier plan). You have a very limited time in which to respond & sign up for COBRA, and if you've not changed your address with them and she gives them HER address... well, I've known vindictive stbx's to steal/hide mail rather than deliver it... my husband missed the date on paying his car insurance, ended up uncovered for a day because she didn't forward the notice & didn't bother to pay for it (though she told everyone else that she did). She refused to forward a photo-radar speeding ticket, refused to sign over the car title as she was required to, refused to ... well, she didn't forward stuff, didn't sign over to him to be able to do that himself, so we had to go to court to force her & give her deadlines on it. VERY frustrating. He's very lucky that the only stuff she ended up able to mess was his air miles, car insurance and other things related to the car title (and he knew he'd been flashed at 11 miles per hour over the speed limit so he followed up & called about it rather than letting her sit on the ticket let his license get points on it.)
But if you want to be certain, call her employer and make certain they have your current address for the time when they ahve to offer COBRA to you.
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theanswerguy
Platinum
Reged: 04/12/07
Posts: 2137
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No , with the petition for dissolution and attached summons there's a temporary restraining order that ( among other things ) :
(3) Restraining both parties from cashing, borrowing against,
canceling, transferring, disposing of, or changing the beneficiaries
of any insurance or other coverage, including life, health,
automobile, and disability, held for the benefit of the parties and
their child or children for whom support may be ordered.
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Never let your sense of morals get in the way of doing what's right. Isaac Asimov
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gigi
Platinum
Reged: 11/06/06
Posts: 4674
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Well, that's what the law TELLS her to do. Problem is that there's no one who runs around telling the insurerrs & banks & such not to make changes. She'll get in trouble if she takes you off her insurance, if you tell the judge that you want her to get in trouble for it, if you know that you've been taken off. What KIND of trouble is up to the judge. But by that time, yo'ure uninsured, and so ... well, it's just not that injunction that provides the most protection on this... it's the COBRA that will be your saving grace if you want ot make certain you stay on the insurance.
That injunction that's supposed to keep her from changing the insurances & such is only worth as much as the paper it's written on, if she decides not to follow it & you don't catch the problem before you need insurance! Kind of like getting an order of protection against violence... if someone is REALLY violent, a silly little order of protection isn't really going to protect his intended victim.
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theanswerguy
Platinum
Reged: 04/12/07
Posts: 2137
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He can also request this :
2050. Upon filing of the petition, or at any time during the
proceeding, a party may transmit to, or the court may order
transmittal to, a health, life, or disability insurance carrier or
plan the following notice in substantially the following form:
"YOU ARE HEREBY NOTIFIED, PURSUANT TO A PENDING PROCEEDING, IN RE
MARRIAGE OF ____, CASE NUMBER ____, FILED IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF
THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF ____, THAT OWNERSHIP OF, OR
BENEFITS PAYABLE UNDER, A POLICY OF HEALTH, LIFE, OR DISABILITY
INSURANCE WHICH YOU HAVE ISSUED TO ONE OF THE PARTIES TO THIS
PROCEEDING, POLICY NO. ____, IS AT ISSUE OR MAY BE AT ISSUE IN THE
PROCEEDING.
YOU ARE HEREBY INSTRUCTED TO MAINTAIN THE NAMED BENEFICIARIES OR
COVERED DEPENDENTS UNDER THE POLICY, UNLESS THE TERMS OF THE POLICY
OR OTHER PROVISIONS OF LAW REQUIRE OTHERWISE, OR UNTIL RECEIPT OF A
COURT ORDER, JUDGMENT, OR STIPULATION BETWEEN THE PARTIES PROVIDING
OTHER INSTRUCTIONS.
YOU ARE FURTHER INSTRUCTED TO SEND NOTICE TO THE NAMED
BENEFICIARIES, COVERED DEPENDENTS, OR OTHER SPECIFIED PERSONS UPON
CANCELLATION, LAPSE, OR CHANGE OF THE COVERAGE, OR CHANGE OF
DESIGNATED BENEFICIARIES UNDER THE POLICY."
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Never let your sense of morals get in the way of doing what's right. Isaac Asimov
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KGrow
Platinum
Reged: 01/27/06
Posts: 3059
Loc: Colorado
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She's not unconditionally required to keep you on insurance. She does have to abide by temporary orders and temporary orders usually order things to stay the same until the divorce agreement is worked out and finalized.
She is probably not allowed to make changes to her insurance but once a year (I guess in a month or so) or due to a qualifying event. Separation is not a qualifying event. Final signoff on the divorce is.
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gigi
Platinum
Reged: 11/06/06
Posts: 4674
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OOOH. that's good. How do you find all this stuff for everyone's states? Either you're a legal researcher or professional web-browser.
I mean, I hear about stuff & have a pretty good memory for what happens in which states if I've heard it before, but you come up with the most esoteric stuff...
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theanswerguy
Platinum
Reged: 04/12/07
Posts: 2137
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OOOH. that's good. How do you find all this stuff for everyone's states? Either you're a legal researcher or professional web-browser.
>>>>>>>>>> Neither
I mean, I hear about stuff & have a pretty good memory for what happens in which states if I've heard it before, but you come up with the most esoteric stuff...
>>>>>>>>>> Almost all states have have their compiled statutes online at either the website for the State Legislature or the State Bar Association . Similarly , most states have case law available at the State Courts website .
The statutes vary in quality from :
The truly excellent : CA & TX
truly a mess :Maryland, Hawaii & Louisiana
impossible to access : NY & NJ
unfinished : PA
not available : Delaware
The rest vary in quality . All it takes is a persistance to find what's there .
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Never let your sense of morals get in the way of doing what's right. Isaac Asimov
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