New guideline table for the indicative calculation of maintenance

19/10/22 | Articles

After more than 10 years, the Ministry of Justice is revising the recommended table for determining child alimony. The new table attempts to approximate the courts' decision-making. The table includes a new rule that the more children a parent has, the less parent pays for each child. 

Table

Life stage

Age of the child

Share of alimony in the parent's income

   

1 alimony obligation

2 alimony obligations

3 alimony obligations

4 alimony obligations

 

Preschool age

0-5 years

14 %

12 %

10 %

8 %

 

1st grade of primary school

6-10 years

16 %

14 %

12 %

10 %

 

2nd grade Primary school

11-15 years

18 %

16 %

14 %

12 %

 

Secondary and higher education

16 and more

20 %

18 %

16 %

14 %

 

Control amount

Fixed lower limit 

66% of income or a fixed lower limit (whichever is higher) 

55% of incomeor

fixed lower limit (whichever is higher)

50% of income or a fixed lower limit (whichever is higher)

 
 

Limits of the table 

In addition to the table, it is important to keep in mind the basic rule that the standard of living of children should be essentially the same as that of their parents. Furthermore, the table has certain limitations that must be taken into account when applying it, e.g. it does not take into account the parent's financial circumstances or the effect of the care of the parent's new partner. These will always need to be assessed on an individual basis. The table is intended for standard cases and cannot be used for children who have high justified needs for health reasons. The table works with actual income, potential income works with reasoning, the table does not work with these cases, it can be used appropriately if the income can be estimated. It may also be difficult to use for parents with above-standard incomes. The table is intended for cases where the parent has a maximum of 4 maintenance obligations. The application of the rules to adult children is also more difficult. The amount determined may not always be realised only in the form of a provision of money, but in particular by agreement between the parents it is conceivable that part of the benefit will be provided, for example, by the direct purchase of certain goods or services. The table may also be of no further use in cases where maintenance has already been determined by the court for one of the children, but may be taken into account in any subsequent agreement between the parents to modify maintenance. The table works with a breakdown into stages of the child's life, but the child's needs generally continue to increase with age, so it is recommended that, when dealing with one age stage, maintenance should be increased after 3 years from the previous determination by increasing the maintenance share of the parent's income by 1%.


Procedure for using the table

The following 6 steps should be followed when using the table: 

  1. Determine the parent's net income
  2. Assign the life stage of the child
  3. Take into account the number of alimony obligations of the parent
  4. Taking into account the extent of contact and care
  5. Find out the control amount 
  6. If necessary, correct the result using the control amount
  • Determination of net income
     

At the beginning of the table application, the net income must be determined. By net income, we mean net wages for employees, i.e. gross wages after deducting the advance payment of personal income tax, social security contributions, state employment policy contributions and public health insurance contributions. It also includes additional payments for overtime, public holidays or night work, personal assessment, bonuses, bonuses and on-call pay. It is also necessary to include any other income that may belong to the parent, which includes, for example, rental income, royalties and other taxable income. We also include social benefits (sickness insurance benefits, maternity allowance, parental allowance, etc.). Income may fluctuate during the year, so the period of at least 12 months, preferably 18 months, should be assessed (the net income amounts for each month are added up and then divided by the number of months and the resulting average amount is used). The situation is more complicated for entrepreneurs, but the table can be used if the average monthly net income of the entrepreneur can be at least roughly determined from the available data. 

  • Life stage of the child

The next step is to assign the child to the appropriate life stage in the table. This is determined primarily by the level of education, age is only indicative.  

  • Number of alimony obligations of the parent

It is also important to take into account the number of alimony obligations a parent has towards all his/her children. With the number of alimony obligations established, it is possible to intersect the relevant row of the life stage with the relevant column according to the total number of alimony obligations, thus obtaining a percentage value which determines the share of net income for each child. 

  • The extent of care and contact with the child 

Once we have determined a percentage of the value of the net income, we need to take into account the extent of care and contact with the child i.e. the extent to which he or she actually cares for the child and provides for his or her usual needs. In practice, the higher the level of actual involvement of the parent, the lower the amount of alimony granted. It does not matter how the type of care is formally called, but the actual involvement in providing for the child's needs. In the case of an out-of-court agreement, in particular for the calculation of alimony in the case of alternating custody or sole custody with extended contact of the other parent, some simplification may be considered. The difference between the amounts calculated for the two parents could be determined so that there is no constant shifting of identical amounts. 

A subsidiary consideration is the number of days per month the child spends with the parent. It is also possible to work with the average number of days per month. The involvement of the parent should be counted if it typically involves the child staying with that parent for a full day, as well as the regular payment of the child's usual care and contact needs (for example, payments for clothing, meals or regular leisure activities). Very minimal contact should not be counted, but neither should relatively extensive contact if all the child's usual needs are provided by the other parent. 

To the calculation itself. The parent's share of care is determined by dividing the number of days the child spends with the parent by 30.4. The number of days can be expressed up to a maximum of 30.4. The result (care share) is subtracted from 1. The value thus obtained is multiplied by the provisional amount of alimony to obtain the amount of alimony in relation to care. For example, if we consider custody where the parents have exactly half custody, we take the number of days 15.2 divided by 30.4. The result of 0.5 is subtracted from the value of 1. The resulting value of 0.5 is the value we multiply by the provisional amount of alimony according to the table, i.e. if a parent has a provisional alimony amount of CZK 10,000, we multiply by 0.5 to arrive at the amount of alimony according to the share of care = CZK 5,000/month. In the case of more than one child, the calculation must be made in relation to each child separately. 

  • Control amount    

In certain cases, the amount of alimony determined, in particular where there are multiple alimony obligations, may be too high in relation to the parent's means. It is therefore necessary to take into account the indicative amount (the so-called control amount) which should remain after deduction of the alimony amounts. The determination of the control amount is determined by the last line of the table. The control amount is calculated twice and the one which is more favourable to the parent, i.e. the higher amount, is chosen. The methods of determining the control amount are (a) determination by a percentage of income or (b) determination by a fixed lower amount. 

  1. Control amount determined by percentage of income: this is determined simply by calculating the percentage of income according to the table. For example, for 2 child support obligations, the parent must keep 66% of the income. 
  2. Control amount set at a fixed lower amount: it is determined using the so-called non-forfeitable amount, which is otherwise used in the calculation of deductions from the debtor's income in execution and debt settlement. It can be easily determined using the Ministry of Justice's online calculator. 
  • Adjusting maintenance using a control amount

Once the control amount has been determined (the higher, more favourable one is used), it is necessary to check whether the alimony amount does not exceed the acceptable limit. Subtracting the control amount from the net monthly income gives the amount that alimony should not exceed. If the provisionally determined alimony exceeds the indicative maximum amount, a subsequent adjustment should be considered. In the case of a single alimony obligation, it is only reduced to the established maximum amount. In the case of multiple alimony obligations, the adjustment is more complex. 

If a parent has multiple alimony obligations, the sum of the shares of income (in %) corresponding to each alimony obligation in the table is determined first. The indicative maximum amount of alimony shall be divided by this sum of the income shares (in %). To obtain the corrected amount of alimony for a particular child, the intermediate value is multiplied by the value of the share of income (in %) to which the child is entitled according to the table. This will distribute the maximum amount of money in the proportions shown in the table among the individual children.

In connection with the above-mentioned issues, our office is ready to provide you with expert legal services in this area. If you are interested or have any other questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at eva.ondrejova@ondrejova.cz

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