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concernmom25 · Feb 28, 2009, 10:40 PM

:(Hi, the father of my child and I have never been married. Soon after I found out I was pregnant with the baby he moved to Orlando, Fl, and I remained here in Miami, Fl. Well to try and sum up everything we are no longer together really never were in a relationship, and I have taken care of the bulk of the responsibility for the care of our child. I finally started getting child support a few months before our daughter turn two October of 2008. And now he and his wife and her two kids reside in Orlando, and Im still living in Miami with our daughter. He wants to visit with her Two weekends out of each month but he wants me to share the travel cost for the visits which as a single parent on a fix and limited income is very hard to do. Do you think I should help him pay for the travel cost when it was his choice to move to Orlando, not mine. And I can't afford the trips without cutting back on care for our child. Please help me if you can thank you in advance.

BIGBOPPER · Feb 28, 2009, 11:05 PM

Well I do not think that he has any legal right to demand payment. You can check with clerk of courts to find out though. Especially if he doesn't have custody rights. He will have to come down, or help you up to Orlando to see the child I think. Remind him that Greyhound runs to Miami and that if he has a sunpass he could save on tolls with the turnpike. Or he can take Amtrak too.

concernmom25 · Feb 28, 2009, 11:14 PM

Thank you that was helful. Ive tried those options with him, but he basically told me to taake the money for the trips out of the child support payments.

BIGBOPPER · Feb 28, 2009, 11:35 PM

I don't think he has a legal leg to stand on. Was he granted custody of the child? Call the courthouse and contact the (I guess.) child support office and ask them. If they don't know, they might know who will. If you PM me, I can give you the name of a good family lawyer in Coral Gables, but she isn't cheap.

N0help4u · Mar 1, 2009, 08:04 AM

Child support payments are for the child.
For you to be required to pay for him to see her he would have to take it to the Judge and get it put in a visitation order. It sounds to me like you do not have a visitation order but have decided the visitation out of court. Tell him to take you to court for a visitation order and you will go by what the Judge orders. If you do have a visitation order tell him to take it to court to see if he can get it amended.
Do you have a court order for the support or is that something the two of you just worked out?

nikosmom · Mar 1, 2009, 12:00 PM

He can't demand that you take money from the child to pay for his travel expenses! As Nohelp said, sounds like you 2 just worked something out on your own. Unless the court orders you assist with travel, then it's his responsibility to foot the bill for the expenses.

jillrenee15 · Mar 12, 2009, 04:50 PM

I agree with the above, however, if he has court ordered visitation rights, most likely in it they state that for travel of the child to visit the non-custodial parent, both parties will pay, drive, whatever equally. You need to dig your paperwork out and see what it says. If there is nothing in there about travel the ball is in his court to come and see the child on his own dime.

GeorgeMcCasland · Mar 20, 2009, 10:32 PM

Whether you should is up to you, but since he was the one to move away, in reality, he should carry the costs.

And that's from a father's rights advocate of 20 years.