Are you getting divorced and thinking about getting custody of the children? Your spouse will owe you an alimony to support your children. You don’t know how much alimony you can get? Your spouse owes you alimony but refuses to pay it? Ask for the forced payment and ask for the family support allowance!

Everything you need to know about alimony and its amount

What is alimony?

Despite the divorce, your spouse, as the parent of your child, must continue to fulfill their duty of maintenance, by contributing to the cost of your child’s education.

You must distinguish between alimony, which is related to the maintenance of the child, and the compensatory allowance, which only concerns the imbalance in the living conditions of the spouses created by the divorce. This obligation of maintenance and education of the children is proportional to your resources, those of your spouse, and the needs of the child.

In principle, alimony is paid by the spouse who does not have custody of the child. However, even if you have decided to have alternating custody, the divorce agreement or the judge may set a support payment to be made by your spouse if they have a higher income or if you assume alone the burden of some expenses (extracurricular activities, school fees, canteens, vacations…).

How long does this alimony payment last ?

The alimony is paid until the child can support themselves. Judges consider that if the child earns an income equivalent to the minimum wage, there is no longer any justification for the payment of alimony. Even if your child has reached the adulthood and is still studying, they cannot support themselves, so alimony will still have to be paid.

If your child has reached adulthood and is not studying but is unemployed and without resources?

It is advisable to check if the child is actively looking for a job. If the child is looking for a job, you must consider that they cannot provide for themselves, so the alimony must still be paid. On the other hand, if the child is not looking for a job, the judges will consider that the child could support themselves, and the alimony would no longer have to be paid.

If your child is a minor but emancipated ?

An emancipated child is considered to be an adult child, and it is important to see if they are able to provide for themselves. If this is the case, the alimony may no longer be due.

Who decides on the payment of alimony ?

Are you divorcing by mutual consent (with the agreement of your spouse)?

You must agree with your husband on the amount of alimony that will be written into the divorce agreement. Be careful, if no alimony is set, or if the alimony is too low in the divorce agreement, your lawyers will have to protect the interests of the child by urging you to set an alimony.

Already divorced but no alimony was set in the divorce? Ask for one after the divorce!

If you have already divorced and the agreement did not provide for child support, you can apply for it later.

Even if it is written in your divorce agreement that you have renounced to receive alimony, you can apply for alimony after the divorce to the family court judge, who can then grant you alimony.

You are not divorcing by mutual consent (divorce without your spouse’s agreement)?

Either you and your spouse can agree on the amount of alimony or the family court judge can set the amount of child support.

How much alimony can you demand?

Estimate the amount of your alimony free of charge by using the AGN Avocats calculator.

Each parent contributes to the maintenance and education of the child in proportion to their resources, those of the other parent and the child’s needs.

To evaluate the amount of alimony, you should consider several elements:

• Your spouse’s income, their expenses, the number of dependent children from another bed.
• Your income, your expenses.
• The child’s needs

As long as your child is in your care, that is to say if you pay the maintenance and education expenses yourself, the alimony will be paid directly to you.

Even if your child has reached adulthood, if you continue to provide for them even though they no longer live under your roof, the alimony will not be paid to your child but will continue to be paid directly to you.

Your ex-spouse does not pay you the alimony they owe you, what can you do?

If your ex-spouse no longer pays alimony or refuses to pay it, you can easily obtain forced payment of alimony. You can use the direct payment procedure even if your child is of age.

The advantage of this direct payment procedure is that it is simple and fast. You will obtain payment of the pension through your spouse’s employer or through their bank. You will not have to pay any costs, as the costs of this procedure are exclusively borne by your spouse.

If this “direct payment procedure” fails, you can use another procedure called “public collection procedure”.

This procedure allows the accountant of the Public Treasury to recover the pension for you according to the same procedures as for the recovery of taxes. This procedure is free of charge. You must send a registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt to the public prosecutor of the tribunal de grande instance explaining the non-payment of your pension by your ex-spouse. Please note that before you can use this “public collection procedure”, you must have failed in the implementation of a direct payment procedure.

The problem with these procedures is that it takes time to force your spouse to pay. While waiting for the payment to be requested, you can have the alimony amount paid in advance through an allowance.

Is your ex-spouse still not paying alimony? Think about the family support allowance!

While waiting for your ex-spouse to pay the alimony, you can benefit from the family support allowance, which is paid as an advance. If your spouse only pays you a part of the alimony they owe you, you can also receive the missing balance through this allowance without waiting for your ex-spouse to pay. This allowance is paid as an advance.

If you receive these allowances corresponding to the unpaid amount of alimony, it is no longer you who will demand payment of the alimony from your ex-spouse, but the family benefits organization who will sue your ex-spouse for payment.

Do not hesitate to contact your CAF (family allowance fund). If you are not satisfied with the information provided, contact an AGN lawyer in your area who will advise you, help you and inform you of your rights.

You are getting divorced and have sole or alternating custody of your children? Are you eligible for alimony but don’t know how much? Use the free AGN lawyer calculator to estimate the amount of alimony you may receive. Does your spouse owe you alimony but refuses to pay it or pays it partially? Contact an AGN lawyer in your area who will get your alimony paid quickly!