The right to maintenance payments
This is the amount of money that is agreed in favour of one or more minors in order to cover those expenses that are essential for their sustenance, room, clothing, medical care, education and instruction in the event of separation or divorce.
This pension must be paid by the non-custodial parent, as he/she has to contribute to the maintenance of the children even though they do not live with him/her. (The family lawyers in Madrid of the law firm G. Elías y Muñoz Abogados are specialists in the resolution of legal problems related to the right to receive alimony).
In order to determine the maintenance allowance, different factors are taken into account, and it must be proportional both to the means of the person who gives the maintenance and to the needs of the person who receives it.
The criteria of proportionality cannot be understood in a mathematical way, since there is no formula that allows an exact calculation of a maintenance allowance in money, but it will always be fixed in such a way that both the maintenance provider and the maintenance recipient have sufficient income to be able to meet the expenses of daily life.
Once the maintenance allowance has been set, possible non-payment by the provider may give rise to both civil and criminal liability, so if the obligor foresees that he/she will not be able to pay the maintenance allowance, he/she should initiate the corresponding proceedings for modification of measures in order to reduce the maintenance allowance.
If, on the other hand, it is the custodial parent who does not receive the established maintenance, he or she should initiate enforcement proceedings to force the provider to pay the unpaid amounts.
Maintenance must be updated annually, usually on 1 January of each year.
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