Can an employer be made to keep coverage on an ex-spouse?

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Can an employer be made to keep coverage on an ex-spouse?

I cover my ex-spouse on my company’s medical plan. Can they be made through a court order to continue covering her?

Asked on February 14, 2011 under Employment Labor Law, Georgia

Answers:

SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney

Answered 13 years ago | Contributor

No, the company has NO obligation to continue covering an ex-spouse and cannot be made to keep providing insurance coverage. In fact, they may not be able to provide such coverage, even if they wanted to for some reason:

1) The agreement with the health insurer provides who can be covered under a plan; I've never heard of a plan allowing coverage of an ex-spouse (just like they don't allow coverage of friends, of non-married or officially domestically partnered significant others, etc.)

2) Once the spouse is an ex-spouse, there is no longer any legal relationship between you and the ex-spouse; she's not family any more.

This is simply not something you can do, except in the narrow case of you own the business and keep her on as an employee to provide her with health coverage.


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