Alimony brings with it a number of issues that are often encountered in legal practice. How much child support can you ask for, what to do if the other parent fails to meet his or her child support obligation, and what about child support in alternate custody? We answer all of these questions in this article.
The term maintenance (generally alimony) is not directly defined in the law. It can be deduced from the statutory provisions that maintenance means the provision and payment of reasonable needs between persons who have a kinship or other family relationship to each other. Unless the circumstances preclude it, maintenance is also understood to include savings. The Family Law therefore understands maintenance in a broader sense and means not only the maintenance itself but also the satisfaction of other necessary needs, such as cultural, sporting, etc., i.e. not only food.
Every parent has a legal obligation towards his or her child who is unable to support himself or herself. Most often, maintenance is imposed on a parent who does not have custody of the child. The custodial parent often replaces part of his or her maintenance with personal care.
There are basically two options. The amount of child support can be determined by agreement between the parents – but even in this case, we recommend that you have the agreement in writing and that it is not certified. If there is no agreement, the question of maintenance will go to court. In this case, there are several criteria by which the court will determine the amount of child support:
However, the final amount of child support is always decided by the judge. In order to make the decision as uniform as possible, the Ministry of Justice has issued a table for child support. This determines the percentage of the parents’ income that should be paid to the child. This will give you a guide to the approximate amount of child support before the court proceedings start.
Tip: In late 2022, the Ministry of Justice introduced a new table and method of calculating child maintenance from the following year onwards. In this context, some of the principles for calculating child support have also been slightly modified. What principles do judges now base their child support determinations on? This is the focus of our article.
It is important to note that the table is only a guideline and thus represents one of the criteria for judges. The court always decides on the amount of maintenance on an individual basis.
Is the other parent claiming to have no money and offering you minimum maintenance, or is he or she avoiding his or her maintenance obligation altogether? Leave it to us. We can help you secure the highest child support so you don’t have to live on the breadline.
Ensure the highest possible child support
When determining maintenance, the court always considers the child’s reasonable needs as well as the child’s parents’ abilities, possibilities and means. It may therefore require both sides of the dispute to produce evidence. The custodial parent usually presents proof of education, proof of school fees, medication needed, housing costs, etc.
For the other parent, proof of income is essential. Many parents try to get around this too. However, the court also looks at whether the parent has deliberately taken a lower-paid job, taken unreasonable financial risks to avoid paying child support, or given up income.
You can apply for an increase when there is a change in family circumstances. The most common situations in which an increase is requested are:
Tip: Child support can be increased retroactively – up to 3 years from the date of the court proceedings.
The maintenance obligation is not fixed by the age of the child. In general, maintenance is payable until the child has completed his or her studies, i.e. until the child is able to support himself or herself. However, there are exceptions – for example, if the child is still studying at the age of 30, there may be a question as to whether he or she is no longer able to support himself or herself, in which case it is possible to apply to the court to cancel the maintenance. The maintenance obligation also ends with the marriage of the offspring.
If you have a maintenance obligation towards a minor child, maintenance is paid to the person who has custody of the child. In the case of adult children, the maintenance is paid directly to them, unless the judgment states otherwise.
Tip: Keep in mind that you are still obliged to pay child support even if your child has reached 18 and is not a student. In this case, you must file a petition with the court to cancel the maintenance obligation. To make sure you have all the important information about maintenance obligations towards adult children, we have written a separate article about it.
In order to recover child support from the other parent, you will need a so-called enforcement order, which in this case is a final judgment. To recover child support this way, you will communicate with the bailiff who, after sending you the evidence, will issue an enforcement order and decide which way to recover the debt. The bailiff can garnish the non-paying parent’s account, have child support deducted from their wages, sell their belongings, or seize their driver’s license (not applicable in the case of professional drivers).
The other option is to file a criminal complaint for child support neglect. Failure to pay maintenance for more than 4 months can be a criminal offence punishable by up to 3 years in prison (if this would put the child in danger of destitution). We have written about what to do if you do not pay maintenance in more detail in one of our articles.
You can also file acriminal complaint in this case. It happens very often that the debtor sends a token amount once every 4 months with the intention of going above the law. However, the Penal Code does not recognise any such thing. In order for such a parent to avoid criminal prosecution, the so-called effective regret would have to be fulfilled. That is, he would have to pay the child support debt until the court convicts him of the offence.
In such an arrangement, child support payments are usually assessed to both parents. If the parents have similar incomes and child custody is evenly divided, the court will most often impose the same amount of child support or will not impose a reciprocal support obligation. In cases where one parent’s income is predominant or there is not an equal distribution of care, the court will set maintenance as in the case of sole custody.
TIP! What does alternate care involve, read in a separate article
We can ensure a fair increase or adjustment in your alimony/child support payments, taking into account the financial situation of each party. Our experience will ensure your proposal has the highest chance of success in court. You may pay after services are provided.
Lucie understands the legal profession like few others, and she defends the interests of her clients both inside and outside the courtroom. Lucie has won hundreds of disputes, and her role on our team is to ensure the smooth and effiecient transfer of real properties. She is also experienced in both civil law and family law.
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