I spend about half of my income for gas, and most of that cost is because I drive my child once a week to a supervised visit with the noncustodial parent two towns away.
The father has been unemployed since December, and has not payed child support since then, and is currently under another 60 day order to pay an increased amount & apply for jobs.
I am having financial difficulty since my job has cut my hours. What do I do if I cannot afford to bring my son to the visits, especially since I receive no support, and do I have to literally run out of money first?
You will need to find some way to continue the visits as ordered until you can schedule a hearing to plead your case to the judge.
What would it mean to plead my case? Would I ask to reduce visits, or some further penalty for the father? I don’t see how an increase in ordered support would make a difference, since he cannot pay as it is. I don’t want to ask him to drive into my town, since there is no supervised visit location here - but it raises the question of how he drives to the current visits if he has no money himself.
At your next hearing you should explain to the judge the hardship you are facing in facilitating the visitation and ask the judge the judge to account for the expenses you are incurring. The judge will likely not order any lower amount of visitation.