REQUEST NO #13

“Make a fair agreement about money. I don´t want one of you to have much money and the second one to have just little. I want you both to thrive well, so I can feel OK with each of you then.”

Our legal system says that the child is entitled to standard of living of both his or her parents. This means that the Court does not consider only the income of the parent, but also all his or her standard of living. So, the Court should ask questions to find out how the standard of living stands during child support proceedings.

After the parental breakdown it is natural that the parents go down with the standard of their living, especially if they do not have big property. To avoid differences and chaos at child´s mind, it would be great if the parents can have same standard of living. This is conditioned by parental agreement on who will pay what, what items are covered by child support, and how things that are out of child support will be paid. The needs of the child are changing, so the agreement should be flexibly accommodated.

It is not good for the child if there are big differences in financial situation of the parents. We know that there are problems with child support enforcement in the Czech Republic, and that the government searches ways how to provide the children with money for well-established life. But this is not easy and sometimes it is just impossible.

Questions connected with child support should be solved at mediation if possible. The obliged parent should focus on fact that the money is not paid for the parent´s fun, but for the child´s needs. Please try to think about how much money you pay when the child is with you. This method really works. And if the request of the residing parent is too high, you can make an agreement that a part of child support will be paid to special bank account or to saving account of the child, without option to take the money away until certain age of the child (typically adulthood). Also, this I quite frequent way and the child is supported to the beginning of his or her life, which is welcomed by every child.