Child maintenance is one of the principal financial obligations regulated by the Saudi Personal Status Law. The Law does not prescribe a fixed amount or a specified percentage of the father’s income. Instead, the amount is assessed by reference to the needs of the person entitled to maintenance and the financial means of the person obliged to provide it.
Who is required to provide child maintenance?
Article 58 of the Personal Status Law provides that the father alone is responsible for maintaining a child who has no assets of their own, provided that the father has sufficient means or is able to earn a living.
Maintenance for a son continues until he reaches the stage at which persons in comparable circumstances are able to earn a living. Maintenance for a daughter continues until she marries.
The termination of the marriage between the parents does not, in itself, extinguish the children’s entitlement to maintenance. The father’s maintenance obligation is independent of the continuation of the marriage.
What does child maintenance cover?
Article 45 of the Personal Status Law provides that maintenance includes:
- Food.
- Clothing.
- Housing.
- Basic needs in accordance with customary practice.
- Other items required under the relevant statutory provisions.
Article 61 of the Law also requires the father to pay the cost of breastfeeding his young child during the first two years in the circumstances specified by the Law.
How does the court determine the amount of maintenance?
The Law does not set a uniform amount of child maintenance. Article 46 requires the assessment to take account of the circumstances of the person entitled to maintenance and the financial means of the person obliged to provide it.
The amount therefore varies according to the financial and social circumstances of each case and the children’s needs.
It is important to distinguish between the amount of maintenance awarded by the court and the proportion of the debtor’s salary that may be attached during enforcement. The one-half proportion referred to in the Enforcement Law concerns deductions from wages to satisfy a maintenance debt; it is not a rule for determining the initial maintenance award.
When does maintenance become payable?
Under Article 49 of the Personal Status Law, ongoing child maintenance becomes payable from the date on which proceedings claiming it are instituted. It constitutes a preferential debt that takes priority over other debts.
Article 50 also permits the court, where appropriate, to award interim maintenance while the case is being heard.
What if the father refuses to provide maintenance?
If the father has sufficient means or is able to earn a living but refuses to provide maintenance, the person entitled to it may bring a claim before the competent court.
Where the father does not provide maintenance or is absent, and there are no assets available from which the child can be maintained, Article 59 of the Personal Status Law regulates the circumstances in which the mother or another person liable for maintenance must provide it. The Article also regulates recourse against the father, subject to the cases and conditions prescribed by the Law.
Where the father is deceased, missing or unable to meet his financial obligations, Article 60 regulates the transfer of the maintenance obligation to the child’s relatives who have sufficient means, in proportion to their respective shares of inheritance from the child.
Increasing or reducing maintenance
The Law permits maintenance to be increased or reduced following a change in circumstances. However, a claim for an increase or reduction will not be heard until one year has elapsed from the maintenance judgment, unless exceptional circumstances exist, as assessed by the court.
The increase or reduction takes effect from the date of the judgment.
How to bring a maintenance claim
A claim may be filed electronically through the Statement of Claim service on the Najiz platform. The applicant selects the service and the appropriate case classification, enters the parties’ details and the relief sought, and attaches the required documents.
The claim should clearly set out:
- The children’s details.
- The relationship between the claimant and the defendant.
- The children’s lack of sufficient assets, as applicable.
- The income of the person liable for maintenance, or information indicating that person’s financial capacity.
- The children’s needs.
- The amount of maintenance sought and the basis for its calculation.
- The supporting documents and evidence.
