Legal Question in Family Law in Washington

Re: Children Travel Expenses

The best thing to do is seek a modification of the Order of Child Support to take into account the new needed long distance travel expenses. I think any commissioner or judge will agree that the father should at least be responsible for what he was willing to pay for when you lived in northern California. As for the remaining distance, what ought to happen is that each parent should be responsible for their proportional share of travel costs.

Beyond that, there are questions such as how many trips per year, and what do everyone's incomes allow for? With long distance cases, if the children are old enough to fly on a non-stop flight by themselves, that is the cheapest way to go and they let parents accompany kids up to the gate on each end. If they need accompaniment, they I suggest that each parent accompany the children one way and again, split these costs proportionately based upon their incomes.

If the case was originally heard in western Washington, I'd be happy to provide a telephone consultation at no charge and we could take things from there. You can get my office number by clicking on my name below. If you need a referral for eastern Washington, I am also happy to provide you with a couple if you e-mail me.

Good luck!