This is worth remembering:
- Principle of equal standard of living for parent and child,
- Justified needs of the child and earning capacity of the obliged parent the basis for determining the amount of alimony,
- Fulfillment of the maintenance obligation also through personal efforts to raise the child,
- Possibility to claim alimony for the period before the lawsuit was filed.
According to current legislation, parents are obliged to provide maintenance to a child who is not yet able to support himself. An exception to this rule is the rare situation when the child's maintenance and upbringing costs can be covered by income from the child's own property.
The extent of alimony payments depends on two factors - the legitimate needs of the eligible person and the earning and asset capacity of the obligor. Consequently, the court, determining the amount of alimony payments, will be guided, on the one hand, by the real and reasonable amounts that should be allocated to meet the needs of the child, and, on the other hand, by the financial situation of the obligated parent. It is worth noting at this point that, according to established case law, the „earning and property capacity of the obligated person” should be evaluated not from the point of view of the funds actually possessed and obtained, but the potential capacity of the obligated person in this regard, taking into account due diligence, actions and behavior. A person obligated to provide maintenance to his children, who are not yet capable of supporting themselves, should make full use of his qualifications, entitlements and talents in order to obtain the income necessary to meet the children's justified needs. Thus, the decisive value in determining the amount of the alimony pension will not always be only the income actually earned, but the income that the parent could have earned if he had fully used his professional potential and skills.
As is generally accepted, the cost of living of a child is determined by the standard of living of the parents. The jurisprudence is unanimous in this regard and accepts that the extent of the child's justified needs should be determined in such a way that, if they are met, the child's standard of living should be the same as that of the parents, since the level and quality of fulfillment of the child's needs depend on the parents' earning capacity and assets, which also determine their standard of living. Of course, the implementation of this principle cannot lead to the justification of needs that, reasonably speaking, should be judged as superfluous. Rather, it is an expression of a view of the already well-established position that parents are obliged to share any income, even minimal, with their child.
The performance of the child support obligation to a child who is not yet capable of self-support may also consist, in whole or in part, in personal efforts for his upbringing or maintenance. This involves personal contact with the child, exercising direct care over him or her, or exercising contact. As a rule, the parent with whom the child resides on a daily basis will bear less of the child's upkeep. The other parent will then be burdened with the maintenance obligation, in its purely financial dimension, to a greater extent. As a rule, the courts in Poznań consider that the parent who does not live with the child permanently should bear about 60-70% of the child's maintenance costs, the remainder being realized by the parent who has direct custody of the child. Of course, these proportions may be disturbed in situations where the parent who is obliged to pay a maintenance allowance for contact with the child basically shows no interest at all, or in situations where the disparity in the parents' earnings is significant.
The obligation to pay alimony can be decreed in a divorce judgment, or as a result of a separate alimony proceeding. The plaintiff in an alimony case is always the child, represented by one of the parents until he or she comes of age. It is worthwhile already when drafting the lawsuit, and then also during the proceedings, to use the assistance of a lawyer. Due to the fact that the task of the court is to accurately and precisely determine the amount of the child's justified needs and the earning capacity of the obliged parent, the alimony proceedings will be mostly based on the questioning of the parents and the analysis of calculations and documents submitted by the parties - income certificates, statements of expenses to meet current needs, as well as various types of bills, transfer receipts, loan agreements, etc. A professional attorney will examine the proper preparation of documents, pay attention to the most important issues from the point of view of our interest, suggest what other circumstances may be important to the court and form the basis of the issued judgment.
Importantly, it is also permissible to claim alimony for the period prior to the filing of the lawsuit, but to a limited extent. According to the now well-established case law of the Supreme Court, such a claim will be granted, especially if the satisfaction of needs in the period prior to the filing of the lawsuit forced the other spouse to incur obligations (e.g., a consumer loan for the ongoing maintenance of minors).
As the Supreme Court pointed out, the satisfaction of current needs can be in the present or future, while the assertion of past needs is possible only if the entitled person demonstrates that certain of his needs have been unsatisfied, or that the liabilities incurred to cover these justified needs have not been liquidated.
An ex officio judgment awarding alimony is given the order of immediate enforceability, which means that the benefit obligation specified therein may be enforced (in the event of delay or arrears in payment) even before the judgment becomes final, and therefore before the final conclusion of the proceedings (that is, also in the event that the other party appeals the unfavorable judgment).
