Demography

Almost one in seven families with children in Austria is headed by a lone parent. The marriage rate is similar to that in the UK, but the divorce rate is lower; women also marry younger in Austria than in most of the other countries studied. Around a quarter of all births are to unmarried women, and the teenage birth rate is fairly high; only the UK and the USA have higher rates.

Provision for Lone Parents

Lone parents receive a tax allowance of £240 in addition to the single person's allowance of £240 per year. Child tax allowances (for all families) amount to £34 per child per month. Lone parents are more likely than their married counterparts to be in work: those receiving social assistance are obliged to seek work once their youngest child is three.

Calculation for Child Support

Parents have a duty under Austrian constitutional law to pay maintenance for any child, whether born inside or outside marriage, in accordance with the child's needs and their standard of living. The paternity of children born outside marriage is established by judgement or acknowledgement. The resident parent's contribution is deemed to be met (partially or in total) by the work which they carry out in caring for the child. The duty to pay maintenance continues until the age of 28 in cases where the young person is still undergoing education or professional training. Where it is impossible for parents to fulfill their obligations, grandparents may be called upon to pay maintenance, provided that to do so would not jeopardize their own livelihood.

Maintenance is determined in non-litigious proceedings. To avoid this lengthy procedure there are summary proceedings which fix a preliminary maintenance which ensures a basic living standard for the child. Enforcement is through the bailiff. The child's legal representative may entrust the youth welfare officer with a mandate to determine and enforce the child's claims. The child support system was set up in 1970, and revised in 1980. Court guidelines specify the following percentages of the non-resident parent's net average monthly earnings, depending on the age of the child:

• 16% aged 0-5
• 18% aged 6-10
• 20% aged 11-15
• 22% aged 15+

Where there is responsibility for several children, or for a non-working spouse, the percentages are reduced accordingly, by 2 to 3 per cent.

Failure to pay maintenance can lead to criminal proceedings by the state.

Minimum Amount

Non-resident parents are not required to pay a minimum amount. Unemployed people and those on very low incomes are not obliged to pay maintenance.

Guaranteed Payments

There is an advance maintenance system, in place since 1976, available for minor children where the absent parent is no longer living with the child and has not met his/her legal obligations. The State will also make advance payment where the liable parent cannot be found or is serving a prison sentence for more than one month. Eligibility for advance payments for child support is not means-tested.

Claims must be based on a legal order, that is a court decision setting the amount of child support, or an out-of-court agreement, subsequently approved by the court. An attempt to collect the child support by means of an income execution must have failed in the six months prior to the application for advance payment. The amount of the advance depends on the amount of child support set in court order, although there is an upper limit.

Advance payments are granted for a period of not more than three years. Renewals can be granted for three years. Advance payments are raised or reduced if the amount of maintenance is raised or reduced. They are only paid for minors. No advances are payable in situations where it is obvious that the debtor is in no position to pay support (either because of sickness or inability to earn an income).

The costs of this scheme amounted to around ATS 1 billion in 1997; only slightly more than 40 per cent of overall costs were recovered from liable parents. Recovery from wage-dependent people or employees is very effective (around 90%), but it is not so effective from self-employed people, who even the Inland Revenue have difficulty tracking down. There are also difficulties with payments from the unemployed people who are not obliged to pay maintenance.

Current Issues

The courts have recently ruled that maintenance should be tax deductible for the non-resident parent, in accordance with established guidelines on the costs of children. There are no plans for reform of child support nor any manifestations of dissatisfaction with the current system, although there is a persistent problem of lone parents living on low incomes.