Mileage allowance out of maintenance

[notalazybitch]

Dss's mother is a lazy cow. DP has always paid above the minimum recommended payment guide from cms. She is begging for more money from him even though we are struggling immensely financially. She is claiming everything under the sun so she doesn't have to work. I know that she has fiddled things so she gets more in benefits, I would love to report her for this but it would impact dss so I won't.
My question is whether DP can claim petrol costs for picking up and dropping off out of cms payments. The current costs are crippling us. How much would he be able to claim? She will not help with transport, it's 45 min drive.

Thank you

Sure, Jan.

No he cannot

🙄

No, but surely she should be meeting you halfway? Or doing half the transport?

@Beansí no completely refuses. She has so much disposable income and we can't afford day to day living.

Well the CMS is for DSS’s benefit, so maybe your penny pinching partner should ask him if he minds ?

You can ask cms for reconsideration. They do look into things such as travel

It’s his kid, OP ! Jeez 🙄

No penny pinching, I already stated that he does not pay minimum amount.

You can’t take petrol costs out of the maintenance payments, but you can use the CMS online calculator to see exactly how much your DP is required to pay and stick to that. You could offer to compromise, and continue with the payments as currently, but she needs to help out with transportation ie share the driving/ alternate journeys or meet halfway.
The other question is, why is it a 45 minute drive? One assumes that at one point they lived together, so who moved? If SHE did, then I think it’s fair to push her to help out with the petrol etc, if HE did, then I think you need to just get in with it.

@MamaBear1022 that is helpful thank you

@Flutterbybudget thank you. It was a very short relationship many years ago so they never lived together

No penny pinching, I already stated that he does not pay minimum amount.

wow 🙄

amazing how much you know about his ex’s finances, too.
how often does he travel to collect Ds?

Are there any court arrangements in place for the DS? If there are then they need to be followed. If not then presumably your DP and his ex have an informal arrangement so it's unlikely that the ex will agree.

Is the CM arranged via CMS? If so he can ask for it to be looked at again. If not then he's free to pay whatever he wants I guess. But then the ex may apply to have it formalised.

@LunchBoxPolice it would be outing to explain why I know so much but I do.

My son's dad made a claim to CMS for petrol costs and they reduced the maintenance. He moved away so now I have the privilege of paying for my own fuel and most of his to facilitate contact!

Most of the people, including professionals, think he's a selfish and pathetic individual as he saves himself £8/9 a month.

Ok.
so how often does he see him? You seem to be avoiding that question

He sees him every weekend for two nights

This. If you're struggling to afford to live/see the child then ex needs to arrange to do some of the travelling or your partner needs to reduce the maintenance he pays if he is overpaying.
Some posters on here would say the dad should overpay maintenance and live on the streets for some reason

@IHaveBeenFallingFor30Minutes that is quite a pitiful amount to claim for

My son would withdraw from contact if my ex even asked

@mummyh2016 I am getting that impression. Thank you everyone who can see my point of view and have given advice it's appreciated.

Oh yes, he is a very petty person.

But you can claim petrol from CMS - it's called a special circumstances claim or something and is different to the mandatory reconsideration for stuff like shared care changes.

@IHaveBeenFallingFor30Minutes, my XH also reduced his maintenance because of his travel. He moved away first.

Yes you can ask for a reduction in maintenance for travel costs.