Dental, Dependent Coverage FAQs

Yes, you can cover:

• your legal spouse
• your domestic partner whom you registered with the Benefits Office

If you are divorced, you cannot cover your divorced spouse.

You can cover your opposite sex or same sex domestic partner if you:

• agree to be jointly responsible for each other's common welfare and to share financial obligations
• live together in a long-term relationship of indefinite duration
• are not related by blood to a degree of closeness which would prohibit legal marriage in the state in which you legally reside

To apply for coverage for your domestic partner, register your domestic partner with the NYU Benefits Office.

You can cover:

• your natural child
• your stepchild
• your registered domestic partner's child
• your legally adopted child (or child placed with you for legal adoption)
• a child for whom you have been appointed legal guardian by a court of competent jurisdiction
• a child for whom you have been given temporary or permanent custody under an order issued by a court of competent jurisdiction
• a child for whom you have been appointed legal guardian by a court of competent jurisdiction or for whom you have been given temporary or permanent custody under an order issued by a court of competent jurisdiction.

For your child to be covered, he or she must be under age 26 (coverage ends at the end of the month in which age 26 is attained).

A newborn natural child is eligible for coverage at birth.

If at any time your child isn't considered a dependent child under this plan, your child's coverage will stop. (See also, "Continuation of Coverage under COBRA".)

Generally, you can't cover your child as a dependent once your child reaches age 26. You may be able to extend coverage for your dependent child if your child was found to be physically or mentally handicapped, mentally ill, or developmentally disabled before the age of 26 and continues to be fully dependent on you for support and unmarried.

• Once your child no longer meets the requirements to be your dependent, your child's coverage will stop (See also "Continuation of Coverage under COBRA")
• at the end of the month of your divorce or revocation of your domestic partnership
• at the end of the month in which the child reaches age 26

You can cover your disabled child after age 26 if the child is unmarried and fully dependent upon you for support and found to be physically or mentally handicapped, mentally ill, or developmentally disabled before the age of age 26.

Note: In order to cover your disabled child past age 26, the child's disability has to begin before the date eligibility would otherwise end and you will need to provide proof of the disability.

You can cover a married child as long as he or she is under age 26.

You can cover your spouse as a dependent under your plan, or your spouse can cover you as their dependent, or you and your spouse can elect separate employee coverage, if eligible. Neither you nor your spouse can be covered as both an employee and a dependent under the plan.