Q: I have been divorced for 2 years. From before the divorce was final, ex-husband would pick up and drop off our child.
He has missed a lot of visits saying that I am refusing to let our child go (which is untrue), he just never contacts me and/or picks him up. He is now engaged and has started saying I need to meet him in the middle. When we did our divorce papers, he would not agree on a meeting provision, so it is left blank. If he has been picking him up and dropping him off, shouldn't it stay the same? I should say he has his older two boys help him at times pick up and drop off as well.
A: Meeting in the middle is more or less the default absent a showing of why the arrangement should be different. At least if you arrange to meet in the middle you should know in advance when he is going to exercise parent time. If he fails to show more than once or twice, you likely have a good argument that he should either have to travel to you or subsidize half your travel costs if you agree to do the transportation.
A: The answer to this question could depend on a few factors, including how far apart you live, who was the relocating parent (if applicable), your parent-time schedule, your parenting plan, etc. I think that the default position if you live in the same town is to share transportation. However, you may have options to require him to continue providing all transportation. For example, you may be able to pursue a nunc pro tunc order to address transportation. You should consider consulting with an attorney to review your order and explore options.
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