CMS & travel expenses

[Mwatkins]

My ex is threatening to take travel expenses off the maintenance he pays me. It’s a 20 mile round trip twice a month. I went to the cms this year after 7 years of him deciding how much/when he pays me. He’s now trying to blackmail me, by saying if I don’t meet him where he agrees rather than him coming to my house he’ll contact the cms and they’ll take money off me. He’s gone for 4 months in the past without seeing the girls, I’m really worried he’ll do it again. Can anyone help?

[GingerbreadJustine]

Hi Mwatkins

Thank you for posting here on our forum.  Don’t forget that you can contact our Single Parent Helpline where they will be able to explore your questions around this issue.

Kind regards, Justine

Helpline

[Kath]

So he is trying to control you thru money. I think you need to let him know this isn’t going to work. Give him your full support in contacting cms to complain about travelling 40 miles a month; I do think they will have much more serious things going on than listening to him whine on about 40 miles a month to see his children.

If he stops seeing his children that is his own choice, it’s not your decision but his so do not feel like the bad person in this if that is what he does.

[Anonymous]

Hello lovely,

There’s a website called, Voice of the child” and it has some great info.

It states that in order to ask for a variation, your ex has to spend a minimum of £10 per week on travel.

The discount for travel is £0.01 per mile. So based on 20 miles that equals 20p.

Firstly, your ex wouldn’t qualify as his visits are once a month and even if he did what can you buy with 20p?

With my ex, I kept contact about things like this in writing because then you’ve got a paper trail and can prove how unreasonable and controlling he is.

Don’t worry, things are on your side. Good luck and let us know how you get on

[bluetit]

It sounds like your ex is talking about a travel expenses variation rather than taking money from you. It is the responsibility of both parents to ensure that the child has contact time with the non-resident parent. A court would invariably agree that travel responsibilities for contact time are shared between parents. Rather than blackmail, it sound like your ex-partner is trying to operate within the CMS’s arrangements, set up to ensure fairness. If its only 20 miles per month then it can’t be too difficult to share the burden of travel.

[Author]

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