As a parent, under the Civil Code, you owe maintenance to your children. Naturally, the question then is until when does this obligation, to pay the children's expenses, continue? Is it enough to pay until the age of majority of your child? Or should you continue to pay until your child completes his higher studies and finds work?
This is all discussed in this Wanted Fact.
The maintenance obligation
Children have a right to maintenance from their parents based on article 203 old Civil Code:
"Parents must provide housing, maintenance, health, supervision, education, training and development of their children in proportion to their means. If education is not completed, the obligation continues beyond the child's age of majority."
Based on the above article, it can be said in advance that your child's majority will not cause the maintenance obligation to cease. As long as the education is not completed, the obligation will continue after the child's majority.
Each of the parents should contribute to the above costs in proportion to their respective share of the pooled funds.
Of course, it should also not be the intention that you, as a parent, have to keep paying a maintenance contribution so that your child can simply continue studying freely. Or that you have to keep paying because your child is not going to work and ‘doesn't feel like it’. In any case, a balance will have to be struck depending on the child's situation and the parents' resources.
1. The education
The maintenance contribution can continue after the age of majority to the extent that the education has not yet been completed. Please note that this must be an ‘appropriate education’.
Merely obtaining a secondary school diploma does not suffice as completion of an ‘appropriate education’. The maintenance obligation therefore continues to apply when your child continues studying. In addition, ‘appropriate education’ also means that the education must be within the child's capabilities and capacities. It is not intended that the child just randomly chooses a field of study.
Furthermore, it has already often been accepted in case law that the maintenance obligation continues with a second degree programme when it is an additional degree programme. An example of this is doing a master's degree in law after obtaining a bachelor's degree in legal practice. This also applies to taking a ManaMa course, such as notarial studies after law.
If the child pursues a second course of study completely separate from the first one, the question may be raised whether the child has sufficient opportunities to find employment based on his/her degree from the first course of study.
The fact that a child takes longer to complete his or her diploma than the expected model programme, e.g. four years instead of three, is insufficient to consider that the maintenance obligation lapses. Unless there was an excessively long trajectory.
If the child stops their studies, i.e. is no longer studying, then of course the maintenance contribution should no longer be paid.
2. The child’s own earnings
If your child is able to support himself or herself, you as a parent will no longer have to pay a maintenance contribution.
Income includes earnings from self-employment, living wage or integration allowance.
Suppose your child is not looking for a job simply because they do not want to work, this will not be a valid reason for determining that the child cannot be responsible for their maintenance. Therefore, this reason cannot cause you to have to continue paying a maintenance contribution either.
3. The child’s behaviour and respect for the parent
A child also owes a certain amount of respect to his parents. This can also be taken into account in determining whether or not a maintenance contribution is still owed. This condition does seem to be the least taken into account by the court.
If you are not informed of important events in your child's life, of course this is not nice, but this is insufficient to judge that there is no longer a maintenance obligation.
Conclusion
Thus, the fact that your child is of age will not be enough to stop having to pay the maintenance contribution.
The three parameters mentioned above can help you assess whether or not there is still an obligation to continue paying the maintenance contribution, but it is still ultimately the court that decides.
The court will always assess this strictly, since the request to abolish the maintenance contribution would mean that you as a parent want to escape this obligation.
Contact Wanted Law
Do you have questions about the financial side of your child arrangements or wish to obtain the elimination of child support? Feel free to contact one of our Wanted Lawyers so we can advise and assist you personally.