Modify Child Support or Alimony in Romania

Child support in Romania is legally maintenance (pensie de întreținere), in everyday Romanian pensie alimentară, and this page is about changing it once it has been set. Some older lists and lawyer pages call this service “Modification Child Support or Alimony Agreements”. People search for child support or child maintenance in Romania, Romanian child support laws and how to modify child support, and in Romanian for majorare pensie alimentară (an increase), micșorare (a reduction) or încetare (ending the payments). Alimony in the sense of regular payments to a former spouse exists in Romania only in narrower cases, as maintenance between former spouses or a compensatory payment (prestație compensatorie).

Who asks for a change

A parent whose income has dropped or grown, a parent the child has moved in with, a child who has come of age and is still studying, and families where one parent earns abroad.

How a change is made

Maintenance is first fixed by an agreement, approved in a notarial divorce or by the court, or by a judgment. Romanian law ties the amount to the payer's net income and the child's needs, within limits it sets. When either side changes, the parents can agree a new amount or ask the district court (judecătoria) to raise, lower or end it; the court looks at both incomes, other children the payer supports and the child's actual costs. Payments for a child who has come of age can continue while the child is in education, within the limits the law sets.

Things to keep in mind

• The old order stays in force. Until a new agreement or judgment exists, the old amount is owed, even if circumstances have changed.
• Income from abroad. Earnings in another country count; proof of them is translated.
• Arrears. Unpaid maintenance is collected through a court enforcement officer (executor judecătoresc), for example from wages, and long non-payment can also be a criminal matter.
• Cross-border recovery. Within the EU and under international conventions, a maintenance decision can be enforced in the payer's country through central authorities.

Work a lawyer takes on

A lawyer gathers evidence of income and costs, negotiates a new agreement, files the claim to increase, reduce or end the payments, defends against one, and starts enforcement at home or abroad. Maintenance is often decided together with child custody and divorce.

Questions and answers

How much is child support in Romania?

It depends on the payer's net income, the number of children supported and the child's needs, within legal limits; a lawyer works out the figure for a given case.

Do payments stop automatically at adulthood?

No. An adult child in education can still be owed maintenance, and ending it normally takes an agreement or a judgment.

The other parent works in Italy and does not pay. What can be done?

A Romanian decision can be enforced in another EU country through the cross-border maintenance procedure, started from Romania or with a lawyer there.

Can maintenance for a former spouse be changed too?

Yes, it can be changed or ended when the conditions change, for example when the recipient remarries.

Does a foreign maintenance order count in Romania?

It can, once recognised; see enforcement of foreign judgments.