Can I claim (part of) the child support retroactively?

Questioner

My question. My ex never wanted to pay child support or talk about it with a lawyer or mediator. He would threaten me with all sorts of things. Out of fear I never went through with it. Out of fear of a contested divorce or worse. We broke up in 2009. I fled, but had arranged co-parenting, to passivize him. He was very much into the children. We did go to a mediator for that. For a parenting plan, but he didn't want to make the financial paragraph. He also didn't want a division of property etc. (you had to leave anyway). I left because there was a lot of violence, physical and emotional. We have 2 children. He had a permanent job, I was self-employed. He always earned twice as much as I did. He also didn't want to leave the house (bought together) and I paid half of the fixed costs of our joint house and a rented house for 2 years. He didn't want to contribute to that either. I have calculated that despite co-parenting I was entitled to approximately 300 euros in child support. Can I still claim a portion of that? How do I do that? I would like to give it to my children. The oldest is now 21, the youngest 16

Lawyer

Dear Madam, Your youngest child is still entitled to maintenance. You can still file a claim for your eldest child going back up to 5 years. You can also ask your ex if he is willing to pay child support and agree on an amount together. I advise you to do this in writing. If he is willing to pay child support, I advise you to put that in writing as well. If your ex is not willing to pay child support, I will be happy to represent your interests. Do you have any questions? Please feel free to ask. Yours sincerely,