According to the current position of case law (in which one of the main decisions was the Resolution of the Supreme Court of 16 December 1987 issued in case III CZP 91/86), children entitled to maintenance „have the right to an equal standard of living with their parents, regardless of whether they live together or separately.”
In practice, this means that when assessing the justified needs of the child (which constitute one of the two pillars of determining the amount of maintenance due – in addition to the financial situation and earning capacity of the obligated person) and the cost of satisfying them, the Court should assume that the child should be able to enjoy a standard of living similar to that enjoyed by the parent paying maintenance. This decision is logical and fair – just as it would not be right for a wealthy parent enjoying all the benefits of life to pay alimony that would allow the child to meet only their basic needs, it would be unfair to expect a parent struggling with financial problems to provide their child with luxuries