Distribute travel costs for visiting arrangements

Children whose parents live far apart often have to travel to spend time with the other parent during visitations to which they are entitled. As parents, you have complete freedom to decide how these travel costs are shared between you.

In a few situations, you can ask NAV for help to determine the best way to share the costs, but NAV cannot collect the money for you.

Dividing the cost of travel so that children can visit their parents is basically a private legal matter. This means that you as parents can agree to divide the costs in the way you think is best in your specific situation.

If you cannot agree to another solution, the normal approach is to divide the cost of travel equally among yourselves according to the size of your income. This means that the person with the highest income will cover a larger share of the travel costs than the person with the lowest income. The cost of travel must be reasonable and necessary, as long as you do not come to another arrangement.

How to calculate parent income:

Income is calculated in the same manner as in determining child support payments, unless you agree otherwise. If NAV has stipulated the amount of child support you will pay, it is sensible to use this as the basis for determining your incomes.

You may also use the child support calculator (in Norwegian) to calculate income and the percentage of distribution between you.

In order to establish good visitation arrangements that ensures the child/children time with both parents, it is important that you agree on how the travel costs will be divided. You must therefore contribute with as much income information as possible to achieve this.

Travel costs are expenses you incur to get the child to and from a visitation. Regardless of how many different means of transport you use, it is the actual travel costs from door to door that must be counted.

The actual cost of travelling by public transport (bus, train, plane, boat, tram and subway) is the cost of the ticket for the journey. If you drive a car, the actual costs will consist of e.g. fuel, road tolls and fees for tunnels, bridges and/or ferries.

Travel costs apply to the following trips:

• the child's trip, and an adult if the child cannot travel alone
• the cost of the parent travelling alone in connection with bringing a child either to or from a visitation
• the non-resident parent's travel to and from the child's place of residence, when the visitation is to take place where the child lives

What does not count as a travel cost?

These are not considered travel costs:

• expenses for holiday travel during a visitation
• lost wage earnings for the parent who brings the child to or from a visitation

When using a car as a means of transport, the cost of insurance and maintenance of the car are not considered travel cost.

You must agree between you as to how the payment of travel costs is done. This applies regardless of whether you agree on a distribution of travel costs, or

whether NAV has determined the distribution for you. NAV does not collect travel costs for visitations.

If you do not receive your money from the other parent, you need to contact the state enforcement officer (namsmannen). In order for the state enforcement officer to collect the money, one of these points must be met:

• NAV has determined how the travel costs will be distributed.
• NAV has confirmed the validity of a written agreement between you on the distribution of travel costs for visitations.

Read more about case processing by the state enforcement officer and Conciliation Board (politiet.no/en).

It is basically the parent who will have the visit, that pick up and bring the child to a visitation, but you are free to agree on another solution. The same applies when the child will be picked up and brought to kindergarten or at school.

If you have signed a visitation agreement or have a decision from the court regarding visitations, the matter of retrieving and bringing the child/children is often stipulated in the agreement.

If NAV is asked to determine a different distribution of travel costs than simply calculating the income ratio, there must be special reasons to warrant this.

It is not enough for you, as parents, to disagree on the distribution. There must be special reasons why a different distribution is considered reasonable.

What are special reasons?

The NAV case officer will assess whether there are special reasons for determining another distribution in your case. Special reasons may be e.g. large income differences between the parents, when travel costs are high.

That one of the parents moves far away is as a rule not a special reason in and of itself. Moving may nevertheless be one of several factors that together constitute a special reason. The age of the child/children may have a bearing on whether NAV can process the case:

· If the child is under the age of 15, you must agree that NAV will determine the cost distribution for you.

• If the child is over the age of 15, NAV can process the case if only one of you wishes.
• If the child has reached the age of 18, NAV cannot determine the distribution for you.