[Legal status as at January 2019]

The Polish law does not know any special table in which the amount of maintenance will be given depending on, for example, the age of the child or the earnings of the parents. The regulations only establish in general that the scope of maintenance depends on the legitimate needs of the entitled person and on the salaried and property capacity of the obligee. Parents are obliged to maintenance allowance for a child who is not yet able to maintain themselves, unless the income from the child's property is sufficient to cover the costs of its maintenance and upbringing. Therefore, the child does not have to be deprived to request payment of maintenance.

Performing a maintenance obligation towards a child who is not yet able to stand by himself may consist wholly or in part in personal efforts to maintain or bring up the right holder. In the above case, the maintenance obligation of the other obliged parties consists in covering, in whole or in part, the costs of maintaining or bringing up the right holder.

An important rule for determining the amount of child support is also the rule that the child has the right to an equal living standard with parents (eg has the right to live in similar housing conditions, eat at a similar level or rest in a similar to parents' standard). On the other hand, parents do not have to give everything to their child, but only as much as the child is needed.

It should also be emphasized that the low incomes of the parent can not release him from the maintenance obligation towards the child. According to the case law of the Supreme Court, a parent is obliged to share with each child, even his most modest income.

In determining the amount of child support in a particular case, the Court takes into account not only the actual earnings of the person charged with the maintenance obligation, but above all the earning potential of that person. It may turn out that people with identical earnings will be required to pay different amounts of maintenance.

For example, Mr. X and Mr. Y work and earn identical earnings. However, Mr. X lives in a small town with a high unemployment rate, works in the public sector where earnings are determined by legal acts, in addition to his professional work he looks after a sick mother. Whereas Mr. Y lives in a big city, he is a sought-after specialist, but he works on a half-time job, because he does not like getting up early and wants to have a lot of time for himself. It is clearly visible that in such cases the earning potential of both men is completely different. Also, the legitimate needs of children, even those who are the same age and living in the same city, may be different - for example, the daughter of Mr. X is a healthy child, and the son of Mr. Y suffers from a disease in which daily rehabilitation and, additionally, allergy is required, what he must use a special diet.

It should be noted that the legislator has established a list of benefits, the collection of which does not affect the scope of maintenance. This group will include benefits received from social assistance or alimony fund, which are subject to reimbursement by the person liable for alimony. By way of example, benefits received in a situation where the person obliged to maintenance claims evades the obligation imposed on him does not cause changes in the scope of maintenance. The benefits, expenses and other financial resources related to placing the child in foster care also remain unchanged on the scope of the maintenance certificates. Thus, support received in the event of family difficulties in fulfilling their functions and foster care institutions do not affect the scope of maintenance. The parental benefit received as part of the "Family 500 plus" also belongs to benefits that do not affect the scope of maintenance. Moreover, due to the purpose of the "Family 500 plus" program, which is to invest in the family and to encourage parents to have more children, the parent's payment of cash benefits can not be the basis for reducing maintenance. The last group of benefits that do not affect the scope of the maintenance obligation are family benefits, which include care benefits, family allowance with supplements and a one-off allowance for the birth of a child.