Child Support & Spousal Support (Alimony)

Child Support / Child Maintenance

Parents are required to financially provide for their children up to 21 years old. But did you know this doesn’t only apply to parents? A stepparent may also be subject to child support. Or the person who fathered the child but never acknowledged it. It doesn’t matter whether the person has parental authority or not. Child support is also called ‘child maintenance’.

The amount of child support depends on several circumstances. The most important factors are the income of the parents and time the children spend with each parent. Although the system to calculate the amount of support is predictable and reliable in most cases, it isn’t so in all cases. It can sometimes be quite complex to properly calculate the amount of child maintenance. Many legal proceedings are conducted to determine or modify the amount of child support. Legal assistance is required for such legal proceedings. Law Firm Elbertse conducts many such proceedings, and it can also help to determine the amount of child support by mutual agreement.

An additional rule applies to children who are 18, 19 and 20 years old. If they have source of independent, this can reduce child support considerably. It may even be eliminated altogether.

Children aged 21 or older have no legal right to child support. Nevertheless, it often happens that parents choose to contribute to the costs of their education. In some cases, parents have even made a binding agreement (for example, in a parenting plan) stating that children from the age of 21 have an enforceable right to child support. Once such third-party clause has been made, a child can invoke it.

Spousal support / Spousal Maintenance / Alimony

Spousal support, also called ‘spousal maintenance’ or ‘alimony’, is much less common than child support. This is because a right to spousal support in principle only exists if the person is (or was) married or has (or had) a registered partnership. Sometimes a right to spousal support is included in a cohabitation agreement, but usually not. For cohabitants without a cohabitation agreement, there is no right to spousal support in any case. 

Furthermore, child support takes priority over spousal support. The person who has to pay support will first have to pay child support. Spousal support can be claimed only when there is financial capacity left. For many former spouses, the financial scope ends after paying child support.

The calculation of the amount of spousal maintenance looks a lot like the calculation of the amount of child maintenance, but it has some additional factors. The use of an alimony-calculation-program is highly recommended. Law Firm Elbertse naturally has such a program. Conveniently, this is the same program the courts use.