Frequently asked questions about maintenance

Maintenance is a financial contribution to living costs after a separation. There are two types: child maintenance (for the children's costs) and spousal maintenance (for an ex-partner with insufficient income). The amount depends on needs and capacity, calculated under the Trema guidelines (the Dutch maintenance guidelines).

Child maintenance runs until age 18; for young adults (18–21) a maintenance obligation for living costs and study remains. Since 2020 spousal maintenance lasts in principle at most half the marriage duration, capped at 5 years (with exceptions for long marriages and young children).

You can make arrangements together, if necessary with a mediator, and record them in a parenting plan or divorce agreement (convenant). If you cannot agree, you can ask the court, through a lawyer, to set the maintenance. An indicative calculation beforehand supports the conversation.

First the child's needs are determined from the net family income during the relationship (needs table). Then both parents' capacity and the care split (care discount) count, as does the child-related budget. Our free tool gives you an indication of this.

Even with co-parenting (±50/50 care) there can be child maintenance: the costs are split in proportion to each parent's capacity. Whoever earns more usually contributes to the other. The care discount is higher with equal care but does not automatically cancel the contribution.

Spousal maintenance ends after the statutory term, on death, or when the recipient starts cohabiting as if married, remarries or enters a registered partnership. A change of circumstances (higher own income) can also lead to reduction or termination.

If the recipient cohabits as if married, remarries or enters a registered partnership, spousal maintenance ends definitively. A new relationship on the payer's side does not automatically reduce maintenance but can affect capacity.

For entrepreneurs a normalised profit is often used, typically an average over the last three years, corrected for incidental items. This gives a more stable picture of capacity than a single year. In our tool you can enter a three-year average.

Yes, structural bonuses count as income for capacity. With strongly fluctuating or one-off bonuses an average is often taken, or the bonus is assessed separately, as it isn't always representative of regular income.

Structural overtime counts in income. Incidental overtime may be left out, especially if it isn't reasonable to keep requiring it. It's about a reasonable estimate of sustainable income.

Housing costs are an important item in the capacity calculation. The Trema guidelines work in principle with a notional housing budget of 30% of the NBI, not with your actual mortgage or rent; for spousal maintenance the court can weigh demonstrably higher, unavoidable housing costs. Whoever stays in the owner-occupied home keeps the tax benefit of mortgage interest relief, and that counts in the NBI. Changing housing costs can be a reason to recalculate.