Pet insurance - separation advice

hello_petal

Hi,

I'm looking for a bit of advice on my situation following a relationship breakdown.

Myself and my ex partner are joint legal owners of our dog. Neither of us is prepared to give up the dog so we agreed to share custody on a one month on/off basis. Initially things were amicable and we agreed to share the cost of the pet insurance policy so I paid him half the annual renewal fee.

Communications have since completely broken down between us and he is now making things difficult. He took the policy out in his sole name and is refusing to add me as an authorised person on the account. This means I cannot access the policy if anything happens to our dog. I called the insurance company myself but they could not help and there is nothing they can do unless he makes me an authoriser on the account.

He is insisting that I take out my own separate insurance policy for our dog as he does not want anything to do with me or be jointly named in any documentation. I find this completely unnecessary given I have already paid towards the renewal and I'm not sure if you can have two separate policies registered for one dog? How would this work with the vet in the event of a claim or an accident?

He is being deliberately awkward and I cannot reason with him. It is frustrating as he is not focusing on the overall welfare of our dog which in my opinion should take priority over any feelings.

I'm not sure what I can do about the situation. It makes no sense at all to have two separate insurance policies and I don't know if this is even legal so any advice about where I go from here would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
SC

Jamiesmum

Irritating, I know. But since you both care deeply about the dog surely if anything happened whilst in your care that required vet treatment he would (for the good of the dog) just give the insurance details over for the treatment?

I have no pets, so not 100% on how it works. But I'm assuming you could take the dog to the vets and the insurance in his name would still cover it regardless of who took him in. Apologies if I'm wrong!

hello_petal

I'm not sure he would...

In that scenario I would require his signature on the claim form as I'm not authorised. He wants me to take out my own policy which suggests I'd be expected to claim for any accidents myself while the dog is in my care and not involve 'his' cover.

The frustrating thing is that I have contributed half the costs to the existing policy and he's refusing me access to it.

chris_n_tj

hello_petal wrote: »

I'm not sure he would...

In that scenario I would require his signature on the claim form as I'm not authorised. He wants me to take out my own policy which suggests I'd be expected to claim for any accidents myself while the dog is in my care and not involve 'his' cover.

The frustrating thing is that I have contributed half the costs to the existing policy and he's refusing me access to it.

I think he needs things explaining to him, if you each have insurance what happens if your pet needs lifetime meds? only one policy would cover this, the other one surely wouldn't pay out for the same illness?
I think you both need to sit down and sort this out before its too late. x

hello_petal

chris_n_tj wrote: »

I think he needs things explaining to him, if you each have insurance what happens if your pet needs lifetime meds? only one policy would cover this, the other one surely wouldn't pay out for the same illness?
I think you both need to sit down and sort this out before its too late. x

Unfortunately he is refusing to discuss anything with me as a reasonable and mature adult. He's too consumed by bitterness and trying to 'get one up' on me to see any sense. Ultimately it's the dog that suffers here. I just want to ensure I can access the policy and know that she will be covered but he's being obstructive - I cannot force him and I don't know what to do for the best. My number one priority is her welfare and I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Savvy_Sue

Mediation?

krlyr

I have seen clauses on insurance policies along the lines of saying they won't cover anything that is covered by another insurance policy - e.g. they could refuse to cover for a third party claim if it was already claimable on your home insurance. I imagine the same would apply to two health policies.

hello_petal

krlyr wrote: »

I have seen clauses on insurance policies along the lines of saying they won't cover anything that is covered by another insurance policy - e.g. they could refuse to cover for a third party claim if it was already claimable on your home insurance. I imagine the same would apply to two health policies.

This is what I wondered too. I imagine its similar to car insurance in the sense that you can only have one otherwise it could be deemed as potentially fraudulent?

It just doesn't make any sense. He is adamant that he will no longer be tied to me in anything financial but sadly we need to be for the sake of the dog if we are to jointly share custody and responsibility going forward. He doesn't understand this at all.

sheramber

One of the requirements for pet insurance is the dog belongs to you and lives with you.

Have you checked with the pet insurance company that you are eligible for a policy as the dog doesn't live with either of you full time.

Assuming you could take out another policy
I would not expect any insurance company to operate two policies on the same dog so it would have to be a different company.

Any previous conditions the dog has had up to taking out the new policy would be excluded by them.

Insurance companies usually state that if there are two policies they will only pay a proportion of the cost so if both of you had policies you would each only be able to claim for half on your insurance.

Of course of the dog was registered with the vet in your husband's name you could tell them to send any bill to him.

hello_petal

sheramber wrote: »

One of the requirements for pet insurance is the dog belongs to you and lives with you.

Have you checked with the pet insurance company that you are eligible for a policy as the dog doesn't live with either of you full time.

Insurance company will not discuss the policy with me as it's in his name (very unfair given I paid half the fee but can't prove to them that I did) but this is a good point - I never factored this at all.

sheramber wrote: »

Of course of the dog was registered with the vet in your husband's name you could tell them to send any bill to him.

The dog is registered in my name at the vet but we are friendly with the vet and she knows the situation so I guess I could ask her to bill him if anything were to happen. Likely he'd refuse to sign/submit an insurance claim though and would make me pay full vet cost just to be difficult.

Mojisola

hello_petal wrote: »

Neither of us is prepared to give up the dog so we agreed to share custody on a one month on/off basis.

Communications have since completely broken down between us

It is frustrating as he is not focusing on the overall welfare of our dog which in my opinion should take priority over any feelings.

If you really have the dog's best interests at heart, tell him he can have the dog full-time.

The dog needs a settled life, not to be passed around month by month.

Be the better person and put the dog's interests above your feelings that your ex will have 'won'.