Tabulated Child Maintenance

Slovakia introduced the so-called Child Maintenance Table in 2024. Several European countries already have this method of determining child support - for example Czech Republic. These are recommendation tables for determining the sum of maintenance  for minor children, they are not binding. They remain in force in 2025 without changes. The aim is to unify judicial practice in determining payments for minor children and to introduce a certain similarity in factually comparable cases.

To determine the amount of maintenance (support), the table is used as follows:

• net income of the parent obligated to pay is determined
• child's life stage is assigned
• number of dependent children of the parent will be taken into account
• the level of care and contact with the child will be considered

Table-based child support in Slovakia

Child's life stage	child's age (usually)	1 child	2 children	3 children
preschool age	0 - 5	18%	12%	9%
first grade of elementary	6 - 9	20%	14%	11%
second grade of elementary	10 - 14	22%	16%	13%
high school	15 - 18	24%	18%	15%
college or university	19 and over	26%	20%	17%

1. The table is intended for standard, usual cases where the justified needs of the beneficiary will correspond to needs that we could describe as common, especially considering the age and health status of the child.
2. The table is based exclusively on the income of the obligor, it does not take into account, for example, his financial situation, which may have a significant impact on determining the amount of the maintenance obligation; it does not take into account circumstances that may have an impact on his standard of living (ensuring the standard of living by the partner/spouse of the obligor parent), etc.
3. The table is set up to provide an approximate determination of the amount of maintenance from the easily ascertainable amount of the actual or potentially achieved income of the obligated parent.
4. The table may not be immediately useful for parents with above-standard incomes.
5. The table is intended for cases where the obligated parent has a maximum of 4 maintenance obligations towards their children. At the same time, the table does not take into account the existence of maintenance obligations that the parent may have to varying degrees towards other persons.
6. Although the table works with a breakdown into the child's life stages, it should be respected that a child's needs generally continue to grow with age.

For example, the table will not be able to be used with disabled children.