On April 21, 2021, the Limburg District Court ruled that the father’s child support obligation should be set at zero as a result of the COVID-19 crisis.
What was at play in this case? The father works as a self-employed person/technician in the events industry, which industry has been completely at a standstill since the outbreak of the corona crisis. This situation has been going on for a year now and, for the time being, it does not appear that work in the events industry will be resumed any time soon. The fact that the father has not been able to generate revenue for a year provides a change in circumstances that allows maintenance to be adjusted. The young adult son has indicated that he believes that his father, as an independent contractor, should have taken into account the effects of the corona crisis. The son believes that the father could have temporarily gone into other work to generate income to pay child support.
The court holds first that the father’s income has fallen so drastically that there has been a change in circumstances warranting a recalculation of child support. In doing so, the court does not follow the son’s views. Namely, the court finds that the father should not have had to be aware that he would have had to perform other work – temporary or otherwise – in the near future because the measures related to the COVID-19 crisis have each time been temporarily extended by the government. What is also important here is that the father is 63 years old and has little education and work experience in other fields, so the court found that the son could not expect that the father could have found other employment temporarily. Finally, it was still important to the court that the son will come of age in the summer of 2021, so the father’s legal maintenance obligation will cease at that time. To still take into account for this short period the fact that the father might find other work, for which he might also have to retrain, the court did not consider reasonable. Based on the aforementioned reasons, the court granted the father’s request to set his child support obligation at zero.
In short, once again we see that the effects of the COVID-19 crisis can be so profound that alimony can no longer be paid because income has fallen dramatically. An assessment of all the circumstances of the case is essential here.
For advice and/or with questions, please contact the staff of the Law of Persons and Family Law Practice Group.