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Medical decisions can be a challenge in child custody cases

Child custody cases come with a variety of challenges for the parents. Since you and the child’s other parent aren’t in a relationship any longer, and it may be a hostile new interpersonal dynamic between you and your ex, you may come to realize that making decisions about the child’s life are incredibly difficult.

There are a few areas of the child’s life that will likely prove to be more challenging than others. One of these is health care. You know that your child needs good medical care, but there might be aspects that you and your ex just don’t agree on. Consider these tips to help you manage your child’s health care decisions in these cases.

Determine coverage and finances

You and your ex will need to take a look at medical insurance. Find out who has the best benefits for the child and decide if the premiums are something that can be covered.

Once you determine who will provide medical insurance for the child, you can think about how the out-of-pocket expenses will be handled. Some of these include uninsured medical costs, such as deductibles or co-pays. These costs might be shared between parents. If this is the case, you need to determine how the reimbursement will take place if one parent covers the costs up front.

Discuss important facets of care

There may be some contentious facets of medical care, such as vaccinations. When one parent is pro-vaccinations and the other is against them, the child is stuck in the middle. These issues can be difficult to work through so you and your ex will have to have patience.

While you are discussing these matters, you should decide how emergency care is going to be handled. Will one person be allowed to make emergency decisions alone? What constitutes an emergency? When does the other parent need to be informed of the emergency? These might seem like silly questions, but discussing them now can save you time and trouble later.

Decide how minor illnesses will be handled

Even minor illnesses can be major sources of problems in child custody cases. You and your ex need to decide how things like a cold or strep throat will be handled. Think about what is going to happen if the child has to be kept home from school because of an illness. Having a plan for this now will cut down on a lot of stress when the time comes for you to deal with this problem.