Child Maintenance in Romania

What is child maintenance in Romania?

Child maintenance, often called child support, is what everyone in Romania calls pensie alimentară; the Civil Code calls it pensie de întreținere. It’s the amount a parent pays each month for a child who doesn’t live with them, to cover the child’s living costs, upbringing, schooling and vocational training (art. 499(1) of the Civil Code). The obligation exists only between the people the law names and only on the conditions it sets (art. 513), first of all between parents and children, spouses, relatives in the direct line and siblings (art. 516(1)).

As a rule, maintenance is provided in kind, by providing what’s needed (art. 530(1)). When the parents no longer live together, the parent the child lives with provides it in kind, and the other pays maintenance in money, set by the guardianship court (instanța de tutelă) (art. 530(2)). I can help you whichever side you’re on: the parent asking for maintenance or the one paying it. Other family situations are on my family law page.

Who owes child maintenance, and to whom?

• Parents, jointly, to their minor child, whether or not they were ever married (art. 499(1) of the Civil Code).
• Parents, to an adult child who is continuing their studies, until they finish, but not beyond the age of 26 (art. 499(3)).
• A minor is in need if they can’t support themselves from their own work, even if they own assets (art. 525(1)); the child’s savings or property don’t release the parent from the obligation.
• If the parent who owes maintenance doesn’t have enough means, the guardianship court can order the next people in the order set by law, usually the grandparents, to top up the maintenance (art. 522 and art. 519).
• No one can waive their right to maintenance for the future (art. 515). A parent can’t validly “give up” the child’s maintenance in exchange for another concession in the divorce.

If the parents disagree, the guardianship court decides the extent of the obligation, how it’s provided and each parent’s contribution, based on a psychosocial inquiry report (raport de anchetă psihosocială) (art. 499(4)). In Cluj-Napoca, the guardianship court is the Cluj-Napoca District Court (Judecătoria Cluj-Napoca).

How much is child maintenance?

Maintenance is owed “according to the need of the person asking for it and the means of the person who is to pay it” (art. 529(1) of the Civil Code). For parents, the law adds ceilings calculated on net monthly income (venit net):

The fractions in art. 529(2) are upper limits, not automatic amounts. The court can set less, but not more. Together with maintenance owed to other people (another child, a former spouse), the amount owed to the children can’t exceed half of net income (art. 529(3)).

The 1/3 for two children is a joint ceiling, not 1/6 each; the court divides the amount according to each child’s needs. The basis is net income, meaning what’s left after tax and contributions, from all regular sources. On a net income of 4,000 lei, the ceiling for one child is 1,000 lei a month. You can quickly check your own situation with the child maintenance calculator.

How is maintenance calculated if the parent has no income?

Having no salary doesn’t mean having no obligation. Maintenance can be ordered against someone who has the means to pay it “or has the possibility of acquiring those means” (art. 527(1) of the Civil Code). In assessing those means, the court takes into account income and assets, the possibility of realising them and the debtor’s other obligations (art. 527(2)).

That’s where the courts’ practice comes from: a parent who is able to work but has no proven income is measured against the national net minimum wage. From 1 July 2026, the gross minimum wage is 4,325 lei (Government Decision no. 146/2026, HG 146/2026), which gives an estimated net of 2,699 lei. The benchmark for one child therefore comes to about 675 lei a month. This is a criterion from case law, not a rule written in the Civil Code; the court may see it differently, for example when the parent is ill or clearly lives better than their declared income would allow.

Need and the debtor’s means “can be proven by any means of evidence” (art. 528). When the parent works cash in hand, has a PFA (authorised individual) with low declared income or hides their income, we use bank statements, evidence of their spending, witnesses and information the court asks for from the employer and the tax authorities.

A fixed amount or a percentage of income?

Maintenance can be set “as a fixed amount or as a percentage of net monthly income” (art. 530(3) of the Civil Code), in both cases within the ceilings of art. 529.

• A percentage follows income automatically: if the salary goes up, so does the maintenance, without a new court case. It suits a stable, verifiable salary, and it’s risky when income disappears from the paperwork.
• A fixed amount is predictable and easy to enforce. It’s indexed by law every quarter in line with inflation (art. 531(2)). It’s the usual choice for irregular or unproven income.

Maintenance is paid in regular instalments, on the dates the parties agree or the court sets (art. 533(1)). The parties can also agree on a lump sum paid in advance, if the debtor has the means (art. 533(3)).

From when is maintenance owed?

From the date the court application is filed (art. 532(1) of the Civil Code), not from the date you separated. The exception: maintenance can also be granted for the past if filing was delayed through the debtor’s fault (art. 532(2)).

During divorce proceedings, the court can take interim measures on maintenance by interim injunction (ordonanță președințială) (art. 920 of the Code of Civil Procedure, Codul de procedură civilă). A first-instance judgment setting maintenance is also enforceable by operation of law (art. 448(1) point 4), so it can be enforced before the appeal is decided.

Can maintenance be increased or reduced?

Yes. If the paying parent’s means or the needs of the one receiving maintenance change, the guardianship court can increase or reduce the maintenance or decide that payments stop (art. 531(1) of the Civil Code). Typical reasons for an increase: the child has started school or university or needs treatment, or the parent now earns more. Reasons for a reduction: losing a job, illness, or the birth of another child, who also falls under the joint ceiling in art. 529(3).

The change doesn’t happen by itself: you need a new application to the Cluj-Napoca District Court, with proof of the change. For applications to increase maintenance, neither hearing a child who has turned 10 nor the psychosocial inquiry report is compulsory (High Court of Cassation and Justice, ÎCCJ, preliminary ruling HP no. 36/2026).

The obligation ends at 18 if the young person doesn’t go on studying, when their studies end or at 26 (art. 499(3)), on the death of the parent or the child (art. 514(2)) and when the need ends. Maintenance paid when it wasn’t owed can be claimed back (art. 534).

Child maintenance agreed between the parents

Parents can reach an agreement.

• At a notary, in a divorce by agreement (divorț prin acord) with minor children, the spouses must also agree on the contribution to the costs of the children’s upbringing, education, schooling and vocational training (art. 375(2) of the Civil Code). A notarised deed recording a debt that is certain, liquid and due is an enforceable title (titlu executoriu) (art. 639(1) of the Code of Civil Procedure), so unpaid maintenance can be enforced directly.
• In court, in the divorce judgment, the guardianship court sets each parent’s contribution (art. 402(1) of the Civil Code), taking the parents’ agreement into account too.
• A verbal agreement or a simple written one isn’t an enforceable title (art. 641 of the Code of Civil Procedure), so a bailiff (executor judecătoresc) can’t enforce it. If the parent stops paying, you’ll need to get a judgment, and maintenance will only run from the date of your application (art. 532(1) of the Civil Code).

Any agreement is still subject to the rule that no one can waive maintenance for the future (art. 515 of the Civil Code). The other effects of divorce are on the divorce page and in the article on the effects of divorce (in Romanian).

What can I do if child maintenance isn’t paid?

You have two routes, and you can use them at the same time.

1. Enforcement (executare silită). With the court judgment or the notarial deed, you go to a bailiff in Cluj, who puts a garnishment (poprire) on the other parent’s salary, pension or bank accounts. For maintenance, garnishment can reach half of net monthly income, compared with one third for any other debt (art. 729(1)(a) and (b) of the Code of Civil Procedure). Even unemployment benefit can be garnished for maintenance (art. 729(4)). The right to ask for enforcement is time-barred after 3 years (art. 706(1)); the procedure is described on the enforcement page.
2. A criminal complaint for family abandonment (plângere penală). Failing in bad faith, for 3 months, to pay maintenance set by a court or a notary is punishable by imprisonment of 6 months to 3 years or a fine (art. 378(1)(c) of the Criminal Code, Codul penal, as worded by Law no. 323/2023). Criminal proceedings start on a prior complaint (plângere prealabilă) from the injured party (persoană vătămată) (art. 378(3)), filed within 3 months of the date you learned of the non-payment (High Court of Cassation and Justice, preliminary ruling HP no. 2/2020). The parent isn’t punished if they pay before the criminal investigation (urmărire penală) ends (art. 378(4)), and payment before the final judgment means the penalty is deferred or suspended under supervision (art. 378(5)).

Which court hears it and what it costs

The application is filed at the district court, acting as guardianship court (art. 94 point 1(a) of the Code of Civil Procedure), and can be heard by the court for the child’s domicile, since the child is the creditor (art. 113(1) point 2). If the child lives in Cluj-Napoca, the competent court is the Cluj-Napoca District Court, even if the other parent has moved to another county or abroad.

Applications concerning the legal maintenance obligation are exempt from court stamp duty (taxă judiciară de timbru) (art. 29(1)(c) of Government Emergency Ordinance no. 80/2013, OUG 80/2013). Some courts treat a stand-alone application on the parents’ contribution, filed outside a divorce, as falling under art. 15(d) of the same ordinance and ask for 20 lei in stamp duty. In a divorce, the application is ancillary and is decided together with the divorce.

What documents we’ll get ready

• the child’s birth certificate and, if you have them, the earlier judgment, the divorce certificate or the notarial agreement;
• evidence of the other parent’s income: a salary certificate, employment contract, bank statements, details of their company or PFA; if you don’t have them, we ask for them through the court;
• the child’s monthly costs: nursery or school, after-school club, private tutoring, treatment, sport, clothes, their share of rent and bills;
• for enforcement or a criminal complaint: proof of non-payment (bank statements) and your correspondence with the parent who owes maintenance.

How I can help

I represent both the parent asking for child maintenance and the parent who owes it and feels the amount claimed is more than their means allow. We’ll work out together what suits you: a percentage or a fixed amount, what evidence to gather for undeclared income, and whether it’s worth applying to increase or reduce maintenance. When maintenance isn’t paid, I start enforcement through a bailiff in Cluj and, where appropriate, file a criminal complaint for family abandonment. The child’s residence (locuința copilului) and the contact schedule (program de legături personale) are covered on the Parental Authority and Child Custody page. The consolidated text of the Civil Code is on legislatie.just.ro.

Maintenance is owed from the date of the application, not from the separation, so every month you put it off is a month lost. You don’t need to have all the documents: write to me with what you have to hand and we’ll start from there.