Travel arrangements within financial order?

[sothisisnew]

Hi all,

Does anyone know if travel arrangements around contact are typically/ever included within a financial order?

My DP has been through contact proceedings for his children, but travel arrangements (ie sharing pick-ups/drop-offs) were not included and so he does it all. He is now onto the financial proceedings and would like to agree to sharing some of the journeys- is this something that could be included, via agreement or court imposed order? For example, he's thinking of making any offer of maintenance conditional on his ex doing some of the travel.

Thanks for your help.

Maintenance isn't optional and is not done on any conditions. But yes the travel can usually be stipulated to be shared, how far is the journey?

Sorry if I wasn't very clear, my question is specifically about whether travel stipulations can be included in the financial order rather than the contact order.

Is the distance relevant?

The answer to your question is no, it can't be included in the financial order. the cost of attending for contact can be something that could be taken in to account in the financial settlement (eg if the cost of travel is so great as to affect his ability to pay a mortgage, or if it is a continuing spouse maintenance case) but its effect is likely to be marginal at best.

Fair enough, thank you.

It's more about the time than the money. It looks like he'd have to go back to court to add a travel stipulation into the contact order.

For example, he's thinking of making any offer of maintenance conditional on his ex doing some of the travel.

As in the final offer of spousal they end up with- he's been paying child maintenance since they split. But thanks for the judgement.