FSAs for Unmarried Parents

[Christine Roberts]

Two employees of the same employer who are unmarried and who both have health FSAs for unreimbursed medical expenses have had a child and would like to use the father's FSA for reimbursement of medical expenses associated with the delivery. However the mother is not the father's legal dependent. Although it would seem natural that the mother's health FSA be used for this purpose she will need to use all of her benefits to cover the cost of unrelated surgery following delivery. Is it possible to treat the delivery costs as pertaining to the dependent child so that the father's FSA can apply? I am concerned about possible charges of discrimination on the basis of marital status (unmarried), if this is not possible.

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[SLuskin]

The hospital usually divides the charges for the mother and the baby. While I can see the father claiming the baby expenses, everything I have read on domestic partners says that those expenses cannot be run through the FSA.

[Guest ESOPwizard]

Assuming that the biological father ackowledges that the child is his, he could use his FSA if the child is his "dependent". Have you rumaged around the rules regarding who is a dependent?

If the parents were divorced, there would not be a problem. Does he have any legal obligation to pay the bill?