Rights and obligations in co-parenting


Questioner

My husband and his ex wife have 3 children. For years they had shared custody and had a co-parenting arrangement for week after week. Due to circumstances, my husband now has a weekend arrangement for a weekend every other weekend. Besides the fact that she receives a lot of alimony (478 euros per month), she has now also arranged with the SVB bank that all child support will go to her from now on. This means that we now have about 1500 euros less for the children, but his ex still expects us to continue to pay half of everything as agreed in the co-parenting plan. This case will not be brought before the judge until December, but until now we do not know what our rights and obligations are.... Do we still have to pay half of everything? Or do we have the right to say NO and that she is now responsible for the school fees, sports kids, ortho costs etc. Now that she receives the full child benefit? Hopefully you have an answer for us.

Lawyer

Your husband should discuss this with his ex to coordinate things. If that is a thing of the past, we should wait until the case comes before the judge. If your spouse wants an adjustment of the alimony at an earlier date, he must request interim measures (a type of summary proceedings) through the court. This can then be dealt with by the court within a few weeks.

Questioner

Thanks for your response, we are also going to have the alimony recalculated by the court. We are not concerned about the alimony now. We will simply pay it until the court decides otherwise. The only thing we are currently struggling with is that we previously also received half of the child support and now, because of his ex, we no longer receive it. This means that we are missing out on 1500 euros in child support to pay for things for the children. Now, we do not find it terribly bad that we no longer receive this. Only, his ex still wants to continue to divide all costs (sports, school fees, ortho costs, etc.) by 2, as stated in the co-parenting plan. Only that parenting plan is no longer in effect, but a weekend arrangement until the court case in December. My question is, are we still legally obliged to pay half of all costs for the children? Or are you, as a weekend father, only obliged to pay alimony? Can we refuse to pay half of everything if we do pay the alimony properly?

Lawyer

Until the case has been decided by the judge, everything should proceed as much as possible on the basis of the old agreements, as laid down in the parenting plan.

Neem de volgende stap

Blijf niet rondlopen met vragen over je situatie. Stel je vraag en krijg persoonlijk antwoord van een ervaren jurist.
Privacy is gewaarborgd.