Each country’s scale, and what it is worth
United Kingdom: the Child Maintenance Service formula
The only country on this list to apply a genuine formula, the United Kingdom starts from the paying parent’s gross weekly income (tax data, after pension contributions, capped at £3,000). Below £7, nothing; from £7 to £100, a flat £7 a week; from £100 to £200, a reduced rate; from £200 to £800, 12 % for one child, 16 % for two, 19 % for three or more; above £800, 9, 12 or 15 % on the upper part. Other children living in the paying parent’s household first reduce the income by 11, 14 or 16 %. Finally, nights spent with the paying parent reduce the maintenance by sevenths: one seventh from 52 nights a year, half from 175 nights, then £7 a week less per child. The official guide was updated on 1 April 2026. The page on custody and child support covers the procedure and arrears.
France: the Ministry of Justice reference table
The table published on justice.fr (updated 2 April 2024, derived from a 2010 circular) deducts from the paying parent’s net monthly income a subsistence minimum of €652 — the RSA benefit for a single person — then applies to the remainder a percentage per child that depends on the number of children (1 to 6) and the extent of contact: 13.5 % for one child with classic contact, 18 % if contact is reduced, 9 % with alternating residence. For €2,000 net and one child with classic contact, that gives (2,000 − 652) × 13.5 %, about €182 a month. The table looks only at the paying parent’s income, which makes it ill-suited to alternating residence, and the courts have said since 2011 that it has no binding force. Since 2023, maintenance set by an enforceable title goes automatically through ARIPA (the family benefits office), which collects it, passes it on and uprates it every year.
Germany: the Düsseldorfer Tabelle 2026
Published by the Higher Regional Court of Düsseldorf after consultation of all regional courts, the table of 1 January 2026 crosses fifteen net income groups (up to €2,100, then in steps up to €11,200) with four age classes (0 to 5, 6 to 11, 12 to 17, adults living with a parent). The minimum need of a child aged 6 to 11 is €558; half the Kindergeld (€259 in 2026, so €129.50) is deducted to give the amount payable, €428.50. The table assumes two dependants: with only one, you move up a group; with three or more, down. A control amount per group and a minimum kept by the paying parent (€1,450 if in work, €1,200 otherwise) complete the mechanism; if the income is not enough, what is available is shared between the children in proportion to their needs. The table has no force of law but every court follows it.
Netherlands: the child’s need and the parents’ capacity
The judiciary’s norms (Tremanormen, January 2026 version) proceed in four steps. The child’s need is read from a table based on the household’s net income before the separation: €350 a month for one child with €3,000 of income, €605 for two. Each parent’s contribution capacity comes from a table up to €2,200 of income, then from a formula: 70 % of what remains after a flat €1,365 of necessary costs and a housing budget of 30 % of income. The need is then split between the parents in proportion to their capacities, and the parent the child does not live with deducts a discount for the care they provide themselves: 5, 15, 25 or 35 % of the need depending on whether they have the child less than one day, one, two or three days a week. The official example: need €350, capacities €221 and €179, second parent’s share €157, 15 % discount, maintenance of about €104 a month.
Spain: a method, but tables under revision
The General Council of the Judiciary published guidance tables in 2013, updated in 2019: a first table gives the cost of one, two or three children from the parents’ combined net income, excluding housing and schooling, adjusted by region and size of municipality; a second derives the non-resident parent’s share, proportional to their income. With shared custody, each parent meets their own periods. Since 2026 the official page announces a revision and no longer shows the tables; the “2026” ranges found online are the 2019 figures uprated for inflation by law firms. The tool presents them for what they are: unofficial orders of magnitude.
Italy, Portugal, Poland, Turkey: criteria, no scale
In these four countries the law sets criteria and the court assesses. In Italy, article 337-ter of the Civil Code requires a contribution proportional to each parent’s income, based on the child’s needs, the former standard of living, the time spent with each parent and both parents’ resources; the “25 % of income” of Milan law firms is written nowhere. In Portugal, article 2004 proportions maintenance to the means of one and the needs of the other; typical decisions run from €150 to €350 per child, and a public fund advances up to €537.13 a month (one IAS in 2026) when the parent does not pay. In Poland, articles 133 and 135 of the Family Code measure maintenance against the child’s justified needs and the parent’s earning possibilities — their potential capacity, not just their wage — and the e-Justice portal observes amounts of 300 to 1,000 zł a month; the maintenance fund caps at 1,000 zł per child. In Turkey, the Civil Code (articles 182 and 330) looks at the child’s needs and the parents’ capacity, with an indexed yearly increase; law firms mention 15 to 35 % of net income. Poland’s planned official tables were never adopted, and none of these countries offers a public calculator.
Adult children: when maintenance continues
It is the most frequent question, and the answer varies a great deal from one country to the next. In France, Spain, Italy and Poland, the obligation does not stop at 18 and has no age limit: it lasts as long as the child seriously pursues a course of training or is not independent, and it is the adult who can claim it personally. Portugal sets a clear rule: maintenance decided during minority continues until 25, unless the paying parent proves otherwise. Germany keeps the adult in the table if they live with a parent and recognises a flat need of €990 if they study elsewhere, both parents contributing in proportion. The Netherlands make 18-to-21-year-olds a case apart, calculated on student finance norms. The United Kingdom stops at 20 at the latest and excludes university from the administrative scheme; Turkey ends maintenance at 18 and requires the student to apply for a different one. In every case, tax dependency has nothing to do with the length of the obligation.
Frequently asked questions
Is the calculated amount what I will have to pay or receive?
No. It is an indicative estimate obtained by mechanically applying a public scale to a few figures. The actual amount depends on the court’s decision, the approved agreement or the competent agency’s calculation, which take into account outgoings, other dependants, assets and exceptional expenses. Only the United Kingdom applies an administrative formula; even there, individual elements (variable income, expenses, partner) change the result.
Which income should I enter?
The paying parent’s net monthly income, all resources included (salary, allowances, rental income, pension), for France, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain; in Germany it is the “adjusted” income after certain outgoings, and in the Netherlands the net disposable income. For the United Kingdom, the gross weekly income: gross annual income before tax, after pension contributions, divided by 52.
Does alternating residence remove the maintenance?
Not necessarily. In France, the table provides a reduced rate for alternating residence (9 % for one child) and maintenance remains possible if incomes are very unequal. In the United Kingdom, strictly equal care in practice ends CMS maintenance. In the Netherlands, shared parenting is handled by the 35 % discount. In Spain, each parent meets their own periods, with compensation if there is an imbalance.
Is maintenance uprated every year?
In France, yes in almost all decisions (price index), and ARIPA applies it automatically; in the Netherlands, statutory indexation applies every 1 January; in Italy and Turkey, the judgment provides for indexation; in Germany, the table changes every year and the Kindergeld with it; in Poland, there is no automatic indexation, only a review by the court.
What if the maintenance is not paid?
Each country has an agency or a procedure: ARIPA in France (recovery and family support allowance), the CMS in the United Kingdom (“collect and pay”), the Jugendamt and the Unterhaltsvorschuss in Germany, the LBIO in the Netherlands, the FGADM in Portugal, the Maintenance Fund in Poland, enforcement elsewhere. In every case an enforceable title is needed: a judgment, an approved agreement or a notarial deed.