Washington law is very clear about the apportionment of expenses for long-distance travel between parents' homes for visitation with children. Long-distance travel costs to and from the parents’ homes for visitation purposes must be shared by the parents in the same proportion as the basic child support obligation. In re Paternity of Hewitt, 98 Wash. App. 85, 86 (1999) (interpreting RCW 26.19.080(3)). For a child too young to travel alone, the long-distance travel costs of both the child and the companion are apportioned. Id. at 89. Similarly, a parent’s long-distance travel costs must be apportioned when a) the child is too young to travel alone and b) the parent travels to visit the child instead of the child and companion traveling to visit the parent. Id. Division I of Washington’s Court of Appeals expressed the above-stated rules of apportionment in the following words:
We have held that a trial court must apportion travel costs between the parents in the same proportion as the basic support obligation, in a case where the child traveled back and forth between the parents. We are now asked to decide where, as here, the parent must travel back and forth to visit the child because the child is too young to travel.
We hold the general rule requiring apportionment of the long-distance travel expenses applies in this case. Daniel is too young to travel alone. Thus, in order for Negrie to visit with his son, either he must travel to Boston, or Daniel must travel to Washington with a companion. If Daniel travels with a companion, under RCW 26.19.080(3), the costs of both the child and the companion will be apportioned. Moreover, the costs would likely be higher than if Negrie traveled to Boston to carry out the visitation. Thus, we see no basis for distinguishing the present situation from one in which the child travels to visit the parents.
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