Haymarket, Virginia · Child Support
Health insurance never covers everything. There are co-pays, deductibles, braces, therapy, and the balances left after insurance pays its part. In Virginia, these unreimbursed medical and dental expenses for the children are split between parents in proportion to income, separate from the monthly child support number. If you are sorting out who pays what in Haymarket, let me walk you through how these costs are shared.
By Alisa Chunephisal, Esq. · Founding Partner, NOVA Legal Professionals
This article is one part of our larger child support guide. For the full picture, start with our cornerstone, Child Support in Virginia. Here, I will focus on unreimbursed medical and dental expenses.
What counts as an unreimbursed expense
Unreimbursed simply means the part insurance does not pay. It covers a wide range of real costs for the children: co-pays and deductibles, prescriptions, dental work and orthodontia, vision care, and mental health treatment, among others. These are the bills that land in your mailbox after the insurer has done its part. They are a normal part of raising children, and Virginia treats them as a shared responsibility rather than a burden for one parent alone.
They are split by income, separate from the base number
Here is the part that surprises people. Under Va. Code § 20-108.2, reasonable and necessary unreimbursed medical and dental expenses for the children are apportioned between the parents in proportion to their incomes. That split happens on top of the monthly guideline figure, not inside it. So if one parent earns 60 percent of the combined income, that parent generally covers about 60 percent of an uncovered bill. You can read more on our unreimbursed medical expenses page.
These Are Separate From the Monthly Payment
It helps to keep two ideas apart. The children’s insurance premium is folded into the monthly guideline number. The uncovered costs, the co-pays and deductibles and the rest, are not. They are split in proportion to income as they actually come up. Mixing the two is one of the most common sources of confusion we see.
Stuck on who owes what for medical bills?
Send me the bills and your order, and I will help you sort out each parent’s fair share. No pressure, no commitment.
Keep records and share bills promptly
Because these costs are reimbursed as they happen, good habits prevent most disputes. Keep the receipts and explanation of benefits statements, and send the other parent a copy of a bill within a reasonable time after it comes. Many orders set a window, often something like 30 days, for sending a bill and for paying a share once it is received. Following that rhythm keeps things calm and keeps you on solid ground if a disagreement ever reaches the court.
Reasonable, necessary, and coordinated
The expenses that get split are the reasonable and necessary ones. Routine and clearly needed care is rarely an issue. Where parents sometimes clash is on elective or major non-emergency treatment, so it is wise to communicate before committing to something large and not strictly required. A quick conversation, or in some families a clause in the order requiring agreement on big-ticket care, heads off most fights before they start.
When one parent will not pay their share
If a parent simply refuses to reimburse their portion, those amounts do not just evaporate. They can be enforced much like the rest of a support obligation, through the court and the Division of Child Support Enforcement, especially when you have kept clean records of the bills and your requests. The documentation you gather along the way is exactly what makes enforcement straightforward if it comes to that.
What this looks like in real life
A few everyday examples make it concrete. Your child needs braces that run a few thousand dollars after insurance, and that balance is split by income. A specialist visit leaves a co-pay, shared the same way. A course of therapy, an emergency room trip, a new prescription, each leaves an uncovered piece that the two of you divide in proportion to what you earn. None of these is meant to fall entirely on the parent who happened to be holding the insurance card that day, which is exactly why the law shares them.
How we help in Haymarket
We make sure your order spells out how uncovered costs are shared and timed, and we step in when a parent will not pay a fair share. Haymarket child support is handled through the Prince William County Juvenile and Domestic Relations court at the Judicial Center in Manassas, with the state’s child support division alongside. You can read more on our unreimbursed medical expenses page.
“The bills insurance leaves behind are shared too. Split by income, kept separate from the monthly number, and easy to enforce when you keep records.”
Alisa Chunephisal, Esq. · Founding Partner
Alisa’s Practical Advice
Keep every explanation of benefits and receipt, because reimbursement runs on documentation. Send the other parent a copy of any bill promptly, within whatever window your order sets, so your request is timely. And talk before committing to large, non-emergency care, since that is where most disagreements over uncovered costs begin.
Treat the uncovered bills as a shared, documented routine, and they rarely turn into a fight.
Authoritative References
Sources
- Code of Virginia, § 20-108.2. Reasonable and necessary unreimbursed medical and dental expenses for the children are apportioned between the parents in proportion to income, separately from the basic guideline figure. law.lis.virginia.gov
- Code of Virginia, § 20-108.1. The rebuttable presumption that the guideline amount is correct and the factors a court weighs.
- Senate Bill 805 (2025). Raised the combined monthly income cap to $42,500 and increased guideline amounts, effective July 1, 2025.
- Prince William County and Virginia DCSE. These matters are handled through the Prince William County Juvenile and Domestic Relations court in Manassas and the Division of Child Support Enforcement.
Statutory authority verified against current Virginia law as of June 2026. Every child support case turns on its own facts.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are unreimbursed medical expenses?
The children’s health costs that insurance does not pay, such as co-pays, deductibles, prescriptions, dental and orthodontia, vision, and mental health treatment.
How are unreimbursed medical costs split in Virginia?
Reasonable and necessary uncovered expenses are apportioned between the parents in proportion to their incomes, separately from and on top of the monthly guideline figure.
Is this the same as the insurance premium in child support?
No. The children’s premium is folded into the monthly guideline number. Uncovered co-pays and deductibles are split separately as they come up.
What if the other parent will not pay their share?
Those amounts can be enforced much like the rest of a support obligation, through the court and DCSE, especially when you have kept records of the bills and your requests.
When You Are Ready
Let’s sort out the medical bills for your Haymarket case.
Send me the bills and your order, and I will help you see each parent’s fair share and how to keep it clean going forward. The first call is a conversation, not a commitment.