The divorce decree results in a maintenance obligation on the minor children of the former spouses. In the divorce decree, the court is obliged to decide how the spouses will contribute to the costs of the child’s maintenance and upbringing. There is no way that the issue of child support will remain unresolved in the divorce decree, even if the parents have reached an agreement with each other. The same goes for separation.
The obligation to decide in the divorce decree on the amount of maintenance for minor children provided by the parent who has not been entrusted with custody of the child, exists regardless of the position of the parent who is entrusted with custody of the child and his / her efforts to independently support the child. The renunciation of child support payments to the child by one of the parents will therefore be ineffective, as neither of the parents, nor any other legal representative of the child, may validly waive in advance on his behalf the maintenance claims that the child serves against both parents (judgment of the Supreme Court of 21 October 1952, C 1624/52).
In another judgment, the Supreme Court indicated that the obligation to establish maintenance also exists when one of the divorcing parents already pays the maintenance voluntarily (Supreme Court judgment of 9 January 1953, C 2943/52).
In the case of alternating custody, the courts often resign from establishing maintenance and charge both parents with the costs of maintaining and bringing up a minor child. Then they agree that each of them will bear the costs of the current maintenance of the child during the periods of direct care of the minor, and the remaining costs will be borne by the parents in half. This will happen when the financial situation of both parents is similar. On the other hand, when the income and financial resources of each parent are different, and the child stays with each parent for comparable periods, this may justify ordering maintenance for the child from the parent whose earning potential is higher.
On the other hand, entrusting one of the parents with custody of a child thus determines the manner of performing the maintenance obligation by him (judgment of the Supreme Court of 21 November 1952, C 1814/52).
However, if neither of the parents will be custody of the child after the divorce, the court will determine the amount of child support ordered by them separately for each of them.