Maintenance and Custody of Children 2008 −
legal basis, concepts and definitions
Legal basis
The provisions concerning the security of child maintenance were
reformed in early 1999, when the new Security of Child Maintenance
Act (671/1998) and the new provisions on increasing the efficiency
of the recovery of child maintenance payments from liable parents
for the child took effect. The main purpose of the reform was to
make the provisions concerning child maintenance allowance and the
recovery of maintenance payments more uniform so as to ensure that
the child receives maintenance in the most appropriate way and when
the need for it is greatest.
Another effect of the legislative reform on data collection was
that the different levels of child maintenance allowance were
abolished. At the same time, data collection was reduced concerning
the determination and establishment of paternity and the custody
and right of access of the child. As of 2005, the legislative
reform also increased the amount of data to be collected. The new
data items concern time-barred maintenance debt and the number of
liable parents whose maintenance liability has expired due to
maintenance debt becoming time-barred. As of 2005, data have also
been collected on liable parents living abroad and outstanding
maintenance payments to be recovered from abroad. Data on dual
residence were collected for the first time in 2008.
Concepts and definitions
A child is a person under the age of 18.
Maintenance payment is an amount that a liable
parent is obliged to pay in order to participate in the maintenance
of the child. The amount is to be specified in a written agreement
confirmed by a Social Welfare Board or through a court
decision.
Maintenance allowance is paid to a child who
receives no maintenance payments or when the maintenance payments
are insufficient to secure the maintenance of the child.
Maintenance allowance is paid by the municipality.
Maintenance payment debt arises from
outstanding maintenance payments.
Maintenance allowance debt is the share of the
maintenance payment debt to be paid to the municipality, which the
municipality has paid to the child.
A liable parent is the child's parent who is
committed or has been ordered by a court decision to pay
maintenance to the child.
Determination and establishment of paternity is
the process for establishing a father-child relationship in the
case of a child born out of wedlock. Paternity can be established
through acknowledgement or through specific court proceedings.
Child custody and access of right refers to a
written agreement between the parents. In order to be enforceable,
the agreement must be submitted to a Social Welfare Board (or a
court) for confirmation. When deciding on child custody and right
of access, priority should be given to the best interests and
wishes of the child.
Dual residence means that a child spends, for
instance, alternating weeks in each parent's home (although the
child is registered as living with one parent only).
The population data are from 31 December 2008.
Explanation of symbols in the table:
.. Data unavailable
- Magnitude nil
Maintenance and Custody of Children 2008
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