haloguy628
New Member
Hello I have situation on my hands that I need some advice.
Divorce final in 2002 and I was ordered to keep insurance for our two kids. My ex was given majority of custody and I had visitation and there was joint medical decision making. Not covered expenses were to be paid in ratio 60% me 40% my ex under the stipulation that the initiating parent pays the bill and then seek reimbursement from the other parent.
I was never late on child support and do pay for lot of expenses that should be split, such as school fees and sport and activity fees. I never managed to recover any money from her for any of those expenses or medical and dental fees. For example I just finished paying for both kids braces approx $8K and she just laughs when I ask for her 40%.
Now here is my problem. In May 2004 my ex wife took the kids to dentist. I was not told of the visits and never received any statements from my insurance company. My ex filled and signed the paperwork and told the dentist to send the bills to me, however she gave them my old work address. At that time I was already medically retired on permanent disability and she knew that the address was not valid. She did not provide my home address although she knew where I was living and receiving my mail.
Sometime in 2005 I received simple sheet of paper with the dentist name which stated that I owed the bill which was around $350. Not recognizing the dentist and in the absence of any itemized bill I sent the correspondence back with note stating that it must be an error and have not heard anything back.
Then in 2006 I received call from collection agency who demanded payment. I requested validation of the debt, but they refused to send anything they just claimed I was responsible because it was for my kids. I explained what was ordered in the divorce and that they need to contact my ex-wife. I told them not to contact me anymore.
Yesterday I found out summons on my front door regarding this bill. It states that there will be court hearing on 10-5-2009@09:30. I called the court house but they don't have anything in their system and told me to keep checking.
Included with this summons was a copy of the original paperwork that my ex-wife filled and signed. It also has printout of accounting sheet with debits and credits. It shows that my insurance did actually pay some of the charges and that there was no payment at all from my ex-wife.
The part of the paperwork where the info for responsible party is to be filled is blank, only the kids info and the policy holder info is filled. The kids info has my ex-wife address and the policy holder info has my old work address. My ex-wife signature is on the paperwork.
The amount is actually quite trivial, $320.- and I would not have any problem paying it, however I am more concerned with the fact that if I pay it now, it will restart the credit bureau 7 year reporting period.
Any advice on how to approach this would be appreciated.
Divorce final in 2002 and I was ordered to keep insurance for our two kids. My ex was given majority of custody and I had visitation and there was joint medical decision making. Not covered expenses were to be paid in ratio 60% me 40% my ex under the stipulation that the initiating parent pays the bill and then seek reimbursement from the other parent.
I was never late on child support and do pay for lot of expenses that should be split, such as school fees and sport and activity fees. I never managed to recover any money from her for any of those expenses or medical and dental fees. For example I just finished paying for both kids braces approx $8K and she just laughs when I ask for her 40%.
Now here is my problem. In May 2004 my ex wife took the kids to dentist. I was not told of the visits and never received any statements from my insurance company. My ex filled and signed the paperwork and told the dentist to send the bills to me, however she gave them my old work address. At that time I was already medically retired on permanent disability and she knew that the address was not valid. She did not provide my home address although she knew where I was living and receiving my mail.
Sometime in 2005 I received simple sheet of paper with the dentist name which stated that I owed the bill which was around $350. Not recognizing the dentist and in the absence of any itemized bill I sent the correspondence back with note stating that it must be an error and have not heard anything back.
Then in 2006 I received call from collection agency who demanded payment. I requested validation of the debt, but they refused to send anything they just claimed I was responsible because it was for my kids. I explained what was ordered in the divorce and that they need to contact my ex-wife. I told them not to contact me anymore.
Yesterday I found out summons on my front door regarding this bill. It states that there will be court hearing on 10-5-2009@09:30. I called the court house but they don't have anything in their system and told me to keep checking.
Included with this summons was a copy of the original paperwork that my ex-wife filled and signed. It also has printout of accounting sheet with debits and credits. It shows that my insurance did actually pay some of the charges and that there was no payment at all from my ex-wife.
The part of the paperwork where the info for responsible party is to be filled is blank, only the kids info and the policy holder info is filled. The kids info has my ex-wife address and the policy holder info has my old work address. My ex-wife signature is on the paperwork.
The amount is actually quite trivial, $320.- and I would not have any problem paying it, however I am more concerned with the fact that if I pay it now, it will restart the credit bureau 7 year reporting period.
Any advice on how to approach this would be appreciated.
