Child support lawyer in Alicante

01What child support is in Spain and what it covers

In Spain, child support is called pensión de alimentos: the monthly amount one parent pays to the other towards the upkeep of their children once the parents no longer live together. It is a legal duty arising from parenthood, regulated by articles 142 to 153 of the Spanish Civil Code, and applies equally to married and unmarried couples and to mixed-nationality families. It is set in the divorce, the separation or, if the parents never married, in a procedimiento de medidas paternofiliales (parental measures procedure). As a family lawyer in Alicante I see most post-separation disputes revolve around it.

What the monthly amount includes

Article 142 of the Civil Code defines alimentos as everything indispensable for food, housing, clothing and medical care, plus the child's education while a minor and, afterwards, until training is completed for reasons not attributable to the child. The payment covers:

• Ordinary expenses: food, clothes, housing, utilities, school supplies and meals, transport, regular activities and reasonable leisure.
• What it does not include: extraordinary expenses (gastos extraordinarios), which are shared separately, usually 50/50, and which I explain below.

Support is paid to the parent the child lives with at the start of each month and is updated yearly with the Spanish consumer price index (IPC). It must be paid even if the non-resident parent is not seeing the children, and contact must be honoured even if the other parent is not paying: the obligations are independent.

02How child support is calculated in Alicante

There is no fixed statutory formula. Article 146 of the Civil Code says the amount must be proportionate to the means of the paying parent and the needs of the child. That is the principle the Alicante family courts apply, so two families with children of the same age can end up with very different figures. The factors that weigh most are:

• Real income of each parent: salary, self-employed income, rent from property in Spain or abroad, pensions and benefits, and earning capacity when someone voluntarily works less. Income in pounds or dollars counts the same.
• Number and age of the children: a teenager costs more than a three-year-old, and a second child does not double the cost.
• Type of custody: with sole custody (custodia exclusiva) the non-resident parent pays; with shared custody (custodia compartida) each parent covers their own weeks, with a joint account for shared expenses.
• Use of the family home by one parent with the children, valued as a contribution in kind, and documented costs such as international school fees or therapies.

An illustrative example

Imagine a British-Spanish couple in Playa de San Juan with two children aged 8 and 12, custody to the mother, the father earning 1,800 euros net a month and the mother 1,100. As a rough guide, the amounts seen in practice fall within a range of a few hundred euros per child, plus 50 % of extraordinary expenses. If the father also pays the mortgage on the children's home, the figure is adjusted. This is only an example: the final amount depends on the evidence filed, and that is where a divorce lawyer in Alicante makes the difference. I have written a longer article (in Spanish) on pensión de alimentos in Alicante.

03The CGPJ guideline tables

The Consejo General del Poder Judicial (CGPJ, the governing body of the Spanish judiciary) publishes guideline tables for child support, with an online calculator where you enter both parents' income, the number of children and the type of custody to obtain a reference figure. Many Alicante courts use them as a starting point, and in uncontested divorces they help to start talking numbers without arguing.

What the tables take into account

What the tables do not see

They do not include housing or costs treated separately, cannot tell whether one parent has undeclared income, and do not value a disability or an international school with high fees. They are only indicative and no judge is bound by them. Use them as a reference and then argue why your figure should go up or down. To check them together, book an appointment and we will run them in the first meeting.

04Extraordinary expenses: what they are and who pays

This is the main source of arguments between separated parents in Alicante. An extraordinary expense (gasto extraordinario) is not included in the monthly support because it is necessary, unforeseeable and not recurring: orthodontics, glasses, an operation not covered by public health, psychotherapy, speech therapy or remedial classes recommended by the school. Agreements usually split them 50/50, although the court can set a different percentage.

The rule that prevents most conflicts

Unless urgent, an extraordinary expense must be notified in writing to the other parent beforehand, with a quote, and that parent has a period (usually ten days) to accept or refuse. Silence counts as acceptance; a refusal goes to the court. Skip this step and claiming the 50 % afterwards becomes very difficult, because the other parent will say they never agreed to that dentist.

What is usually not extraordinary

• Extracurricular activities chosen by one parent without consulting the other (football, English lessons, music), treated as ordinary or voluntary.
• Branded clothes, phones, video games, holidays, flights to visit family abroad, birthdays and presents.

I draft the convenio regulador (the separation or divorce agreement) with a detailed extraordinary-expenses clause: examples, channel for notices and reply period. It saves years of crossed messages.

05Unpaid child support: enforcement and the offence under article 227

If the other parent stops paying, you have two routes that can run in parallel. The first is civil: enforcement of the judgment (ejecución) before the family court that issued it. An enforcement claim is filed with a statement of what is owed (arrears, IPC updates and unpaid extraordinary expenses), and the court can garnish wages, bank accounts, tax refunds or even a vehicle or property, with interest and costs charged to the debtor. For maintenance debts a larger share of salary can be seized than for an ordinary debt.

The criminal route: abandonment of family

The second route is a criminal complaint under article 227 of the Spanish Penal Code. Failing to pay court-ordered support for two consecutive or four non-consecutive months is the offence of abandono de familia, punishable with three months to one year in prison or a fine of six to twenty-four months; the criminal judgment also orders payment of the arrears. The non-payment must be deliberate: a parent who proves they genuinely cannot pay (unemployment without benefits, illness) does not commit the offence, though the civil debt remains. The complaint is very effective against deliberate non-payment, but it must be used with judgement and accurate figures. More in my article (in Spanish) on the consequences of unpaid child support.

If the paying parent lives abroad

If your ex-partner moved back to the UK, Germany or the Netherlands, a Spanish maintenance order can still be enforced there under the EU maintenance rules or the 2007 Hague Convention, through the central authorities. It takes longer, but it works, and the reverse is also true.

If you are the one who cannot pay

Do not simply stop. Pay what you can, put the situation in writing and apply as soon as possible for a modification. Maintenance debts cannot be discharged in the Spanish second-chance procedure: silence is the worst strategy.

06Changing the amount: when support can go up or down

Child support is not fixed forever: article 147 of the Civil Code allows it to be increased or reduced when the child's needs or the payer's means change. The procedure is called modificación de medidas and requires proof of a substantial change of circumstances that is not temporary and was not foreseen when the amount was set.

Grounds that usually succeed

• Prolonged job loss or a significant, involuntary drop in income, for example a failed business or a UK pension hit by the exchange rate.
• Birth of further children, when it genuinely reduces financial capacity.
• A change of custody, or a child moving in with the other parent.
• A notable rise in the payer's income or the child's needs.
• Financial independence of a child.

Grounds that are not enough

A pay cut of a few euros, a more expensive rental chosen voluntarily, a mortgage with a new partner or the passage of time will not normally justify a reduction. Nor does giving up work: the courts look at earning capacity.

Until there is a modification judgment, the previous amount remains fully enforceable, so file early and, if the other parent agrees, process it by mutual consent, which the Alicante courts resolve much faster. I have written in Spanish about modification of divorce measures in Alicante in more detail.

07Children over 18 and when child support ends

Turning 18 does not end child support in Spain, which often surprises clients from the UK. Article 93 of the Civil Code requires the judge to set maintenance for adult children who live in the family home and have no income of their own, and article 142 extends education beyond majority while it is not completed for reasons not attributable to the child. A 21-year-old studying at the University of Alicante and living with his mother is still entitled to support, which that parent receives and claims. If the child moves out but still needs help, including to study abroad, he or she can claim maintenance directly from both parents under articles 142 and following.

When support ends (article 152 of the Civil Code)

1. Financial independence of the child: stable work with sufficient income, even if modest; a two-month summer contract is not enough.
2. Completion of training or lack of progress: the child finishes their studies and can work, or repeatedly drops out; the courts call this "passivity".
3. Death of the child or of the paying parent.
4. Reduction of the payer's means to the point of being unable to pay without neglecting their own needs.
5. Conduct of the child that would justify disinheritance, or a complete lack of contact with the paying parent that is exclusively the child's fault; accepted only in very specific cases.

There is no automatic cut-off age: termination must be requested from the court with evidence (academic records, employment contracts, the child's vida laboral), and support keeps accruing until the judgment. If the other parent agrees, it is processed by mutual consent at a contained cost.

If you also need guidance on child custody in Alicante, deal with everything in one procedure.

08How I handle child support cases in my Alicante office

I have practised family law since 2002, bar number 5795 at the Alicante Bar Association (ICALI), from my office at calle Isabel La Católica 9 in the centre of Alicante, working with families from across the province: San Juan, Campello, San Vicente, Elche, Santa Pola and Torrevieja, many of them international. My approach is always the same:

• Numbers before speeches. In the first meeting we review income, expenses and the CGPJ table, so you know your range.
• Agreement where possible, court where necessary. A well-drafted agreement avoids most future problems; otherwise I defend the figure with evidence.
• Fast enforcement. If you are owed arrears, I prepare the enforcement claim without waiting for the debt to grow, and we assess the criminal route together.
• Fees in writing. Before we start you receive an engagement letter (hoja de encargo) with the price of each stage, and I tell you whether you may qualify for legal aid.

One honest note: consultations are held in Spanish. If you need an interpreter, mention it when you write to me on WhatsApp (627 502 675) and we will arrange one, Monday to Friday.

How a child support case is handled, step by step

1. 1
   First consultation and financial analysis

   We review your family situation, both incomes and the real costs of the children, run the CGPJ reference and define the strategy.

2. 2
   Gathering evidence

   Payslips, tax returns (Spanish or foreign), school, canteen, activity and medical receipts. Better documented, fairer figure.

3. 3
   Attempting an agreement

   I propose to the other parent or their lawyer a convenio regulador with the amount, the annual update and the extraordinary-expenses clause, to be ratified in court.

4. 4
   Contested claim

   If there is no agreement, I file the divorce, separation or parental-measures claim before the Alicante family courts, with provisional measures if needed while the case is pending.

5. 5
   Hearing and judgment

   Evidence of income and expenses is examined and, where there are minors, the public prosecutor (Ministerio Fiscal) reports. The court sets the support in the judgment, payable from the date of the claim.

6. 6
   Compliance and follow-up

   Every January the amount is updated with the IPC. If payments stop, enforcement; if circumstances change, modification; if the child becomes independent, termination.

Frequently asked questions