What child support is your child entitled to and how do I calculate it?

Chapters of the article

• Who is the maintenance payer?
• Who can receive maintenance?
• Does the court have to set maintenance?
• Can the amount of maintenance be found in the tables?
• What other facts do judges consider?

Maintenance is a somewhat broader term than its name would suggest. Far from referring to maintenance alone, it takes into account all the child’s needs and, of course, the parents’ means when setting the amount.

Who is the maintenance payer?

A common media and social shorthand is that the father is the payer of alimony. However, one thing is statistics (which nevertheless give truth to this abbreviation), another thing is the law, which speaks generally about the maintenance obligation of parents, and in some cases also of grandparents or other ancestors.

As a rule, the parent who has custody of the child for a shorter period of time (or not at all) is the payer. In some cases (e.g. in the case of alternate custody), the court may even award maintenance to both parents at the same time or, conversely, to neither.

In the case of maintenance for both parents, it is indeed necessary that both parents fulfil this obligation and that there is no so-called set-off. This might be a sensible step according to common sense, where only the parent who has been awarded the higher maintenance pays the difference between the two amounts to the other parent, but such a procedure is legally impermissible and may lead to criminal prosecution or execution in an extreme case.

Who can get maintenance?

The recipient is generally the offspring who is unable to support himself or herself. This is not necessarily limited by age, i.e. neither 18 nor 26, as parents sometimes mistakenly believe. In some exceptional cases, the maintenance obligation may last for the lifetime of the child (e.g. for severely disabled children). Maintenance is paid to the other parent until the child becomes fully autonomous (usually until the age of 18), after which it is paid directly to the child.

Does the court have to set child support?

The ideal situation is if the parents agree on maintenance. If the possibility of agreement fails, it is necessary for the court to decide.

Can I find the amount of maintenance in the tables?

Determining a specific amount of maintenance is not an exact calculation where you enter a few parameters into a spreadsheet and find the correct result in a few moments. Nevertheless, there are manytables and formulas for calculating maintenance on the internet. They cannot be taken as indicators of the amount that the court will award us, but they can be a valuable guide when we are thinking about how much maintenance our child is entitled to. Not only do objective circumstances (the parents’ income and the child’s needs) play a significant role in determining it, but also the attitude of the parents themselves towards the resources to be spent on the child. In principle, maintenance should ensure, or at least approximate to, a financial situation similar to that of a functional family.

The Ministry of Justice has also issued a recommended table of ranges within which the amount of maintenance should be determined.

The ranges set out the percentage of a parent’s net pay that a child should be entitled to at a certain age. However, our legal system is not based on the so-called objectification of maintenance, but maintenance is always determined after an individual assessment of the case.

What other facts do judges take into account

The court takes the following factors into account when determining the amount of maintenance:

• theproportion of the parents’ time devoted to the personal care of the child – there are many models of childcare, ranging from sole custody by one parent, to variations such as 60% to 40% of the time, or, for example, an alternating custody model where both parents are equally involved. In practice, however, even exclusive care by one parent may involve frequent visits by the other parent and a share of both ordinary and extraordinary expenses and childcare. Conversely, even alternating care may involve different levels of personal care for the child by each parent, or a significant difference in parental income may play a role which would result in the child having a very different standard of living in each family. The judge therefore looks at the specific situation of the family in question. The parent who provides more care (for a longer period of time) will normally provide the equivalent of maintenance.
• theparents’ income from employment or business (possibly also pension or social benefits) – these are examined not only on the part of the obligor but also on the part of the parent entitled. This is based, for example, on a salary certificate from the employer or a tax return. However, if the parent does not provide proof of his or her income, the court assumes that the parent’s average monthly income is 25 times the individual’s subsistence level.
• An important aspect is also the examination of the possibilities and abilities of the obliged (and entitled) parent, i.e. what kind of earnings he/she can achieve in relation to his/her education, residence, health, physical condition, etc. Thus, as a rule, the excuse that the parent does not have sufficient income and lives on social benefits does not stand up when he or she is a healthy, educated person in a place with low unemployment. Similarly, if a parent suddenly and unreasonably gave up a well-paid job or transferred his or her assets to others, the same would apply. On the other hand, if the parent is not at fault and does not have the ability or capacity to meet the maintenance obligation, the court does not have to impose it.
• assets and standard of living – these are related to some extent to employment income, but in this case they mean, for example, property and any income from it, shares or luxury cars. Means should also be ascertained for the beneficiary, i.e. the child. If the child has only assets that are not sufficient to cover his or her needs, the maintenance obligation continues.
• other offspring of the parents and the associated maintenance obligations – in the context of a divorce, the interest of the particular child for whom maintenance is being determined is addressed. However, other children for whom the parent has a maintenance obligation, e.g. two other children in the parent’s new family, must also be taken into account.
• thechild’s reasonable needs – here the assessment is somewhat general, using the above tables as a guide to determine what percentage of the parent’s income the child should be entitled to at a certain age. In addition, the needs of the particular child in question are also assessed. Health is particularly relevant, and the child’s interests and leisure activities are also taken into account.
• theincome and economic situation of the new partners of parents who share a household. Although the new partners do not have a maintenance obligation towards the child from the previous family, they may significantly influence the socio-economic situation of the family, in which case this would also be taken into account.
• how the parents contribute to the child’s other costs – whether, for example, clubs and clothes are always paid for by one parent or whether they contribute jointly. Both variations can occur regardless of the official care time.
  necessary expenses of the parents, e.g. health care, housing, etc.
• the age of the child – the age of the child itself implies different needs and interests, with the need for higher costs as the age increases.

A number of child support tables can be found on the internet , but they are often based on only two factors, the income of the parent who will pay the child support and the age of the child. However, it is clear from the above overview that the situation is far from simple. However, a skilled attorney can find and highlight exactly the arguments that play in your favor and can help you get more child support. Therefore, it is not a bad idea to consult your situation and not rely on generic templates from the internet.

As an example, we can take two situations that are identical in a table but diametrically opposed in real life.

The father of twelve-year-old Honzik earns sixty thousand net. He is supposed to see him two weekends a month, but often “something comes up” and he cancels their weekend together. All of Honzik’s clubs, equipment and clothes are provided by his mother, who is herself seriously ill and on a disability pension with limited earning potential. She spends part of her income on medication to prevent her health deteriorating.

The father of 12-year-old Kačka also has a monthly income of 60,000 net. Care is divided approximately so that ⅔ of the time with Kačka is spent by her mother and one third by her father. The father arranges for the daughter’s clubs together with the mother, and both share in the cost. The father supports Kačka especially in sports and pays for her expensive equipment and tennis lessons. Although he already has another family and two underage children with a new partner, he is devoted to Kačka and drives her to all out-of-town matches. The mother works in dubbing, lives in a large house with her daughter and new boyfriend and supports her daughter especially in cultural activities, going to theatres and concerts together.

Even without legal training and detailed knowledge of the law and case law, it is obvious at first sight that maintenance in the two cases will be set at different levels, although simple internet spreadsheets would assess the cases identically.

This is not to denigrate “alimony calculators” in any way. They just need to be distinguished from other web-based calculators which, for example, clearly calculate net pay or tax. In this case, we only get an indicative basis on which to base further decisions.