Support or Guardianship Order

Child support or guardianship order

With a court support order, also known as a paternity agreement or child support order, you can make changes to your benefit plans outside of the open enrollment period.

An unlimited guardianship will also allow you to make changes to your benefit plans outside of open enrollment. But don’t forget: You must make these changes within 30 days of the support or guardianship order.

Eligibility requirements

In order to add a child to IU benefit plans, the support order must be one that provides for a child to meet all eligibility requirements.

Important information

  • Make sure that the copy of the support or guardianship order confirms the name of the employee or spouse as the responsible party, date of the order, name(s) of the minor child(ren), and the judge’s stamp or signature.
  • You need to submit a birth certificate if you are adding dependents to your medical or dental plan.

Benefits that can be changed

As long as it’s consistent with a qualifying event, you can:

  • Enroll in a medical and/or dental plan.
  • Add or drop the dependent to/from your current medical and/or dental coverage.

You can:

  • Add or drop coverage for yourself and/or your spouse (if you’re enrolled in critical illness coverage, your eligible children are automatically enrolled at 50% of your coverage level)
  • Drop, increase, or decrease your coverage.

As long as it’s consistent with a qualifying life event, you can:

  • Increase your level of coverage (if already enrolled).

You may take the following actions if it’s consistent with the qualifying event:

  • Increase or decrease your healthcare and/or dependent care spending account election (if already enrolled).

If you enroll in a high deductible health plan (HDHP) you are also eligible to enroll in a health savings account (HSA). Once enrolled, you may change your contribution amount at any time by completing an HSA Enrollment/Change form.

You’re responsible for tracking your contributions to ensure you don’t exceed the IRS annual contribution limits. If removing your dependent(s) results in excessive contributions, you must work with WEX to resolve the issue. See the Instructions for IRS Form 8889 or contact a tax advisor for additional information.

Note: if you enroll in the HSA or change your HDHP coverage level on or after October 1, you will not receive IU’s contribution to your HSA for the remainder of the calendar year.

You can change the beneficiaries on your base retirement and life insurance, as well as any other supplemental plans or some IU-sponsored benefits at any time.

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