Child support

If you are using the calculator to calculate child support for a child over 18, there are a couple of things to keep in mind:

• If the child has its permanent residence with one parent, this parent must be added as the “custodial parent”.
• If the child has not yet turned 18, you can enter a fictitious birth date that would make the child 18 years old.

Unfortunately, the calculator does not work in international cases. This is because it does not take into account differences in cost levels between Norway and other countries.

The parent with the highest income shall cover a larger share of the maintenance cost than the parent with the lowest income. If the child has a personal income, this may also be taken into account.

When the parents have agreed to share permanent residence for a child pursuant to Section 36 of the Children Act, NAV considers that both parents shall pay equal costs for the child. Because you are going to divide maintenance costs proportionately according to income, child support may be appropriate when one parent earns more than the other.

This means that the parent with the highest income shall pay a larger proportion of the total cost of maintenance cost.

In the case of dual domicile, the parents generally pay 50 percent each of the maintenance cost. When one earns more than the other, the person with a high income shall pay a net contribution for the income that exceeds 50 percent.

Example:
Suzy lives equally with both parents, Tim and Karen. Tim earns NOK 400 000 per year, while Karen earns NOK 600 000 per year. 

In this case, Karen must pay child support to Tim, because she earns 60 percent of their total income of NOK 1 000 000. Karen already pays 50 percent of the maintenance cost. She must also pay the part that exceeds 50 percent, i.e. 10 percent more, which goes as child support to Tim.

When the authorities have taken over custody of a child, and e.g. the Child Welfare Services has placed the child in a foster home or institution, the parents normally do not have to pay child support to each other. 

When the municipality covers the child’s expenses, the municipality may demand a fostering contribution from one or both parents (in Norwegian).

The child support is calculated by a discretionary assessment when one parent, or the child, lives abroad.

The cost of living in the country where the custodial parent lives will be taken into account. NAV also takes into account income levels, exchange rates and purchasing power.

A fee will be incurred for this service, unless prohibited by agreements between the two countries. The fee is NOK 1,277 which is equivalent to one court fee.

Fixed rates for maintenance cost and ability to pay

When NAV calculates child support, the Children Act requires us to use rates and fixed amounts based by the National Institute for Consumer Research (SIFO). These rates have been prepared as an average of the cost to maintain a child at different ages.

The maintenance cost includes

• consumer expenses (clothing, shoes, food & drinks, leisure activities, etc) 
• housing costs (child’s share of housing costs)
• child-care costs (kindergarten, after-school programme (SFO), nanny)

The ordinary child benefit will be deducted, because this is meant to be put toward support of the child.

Consumer expenses:

When NAV calculates child support, we base our assessment on the National Institute for Consumer Research (SIFO) Reference Budget for Consumer Expenditures. This reference budget shows ordinary budget items, based on a reasonable and acceptable level of consumption, as an indication of average costs for children of different ages. The budget item prices are updated on 1 July every year.

Housing costs:

The child’s share of housing costs are included in the maintenance cost. NAV will apply a fixed amount for housing costs, based on the average of actual housing costs from Statistics Norway consumer surveys.

These expenditures are included: interest on mortgages, rent, insurance, taxes and charges, maintenance, electricity and heating. Mortgage instalments are not included.

Child-care costs:

Child-care costs are documented expenditures for child care, such as kindergarten, nanny and after-school programmes (SFO/AKS). The custodial parent’s child-care costs, if relevant, are added to the maintenance cost. If the non-custodial parent pays some of the child-care cost, we cannot add it to the calculation. NAV distinguishes between full-time child care and part-time child care. Full-time child care is a regular child supervision arrangement of 33 hours or more per week.

For children under school-age, the rates are based on Statistics Norway parent payment surveys.

For school-age children who have been enrolled in an after-school programme (SFO/AKS) or similar child supervision schemes, the rates are based on the Statistics Norway KOSTRA survey. This distinguishes between supervision up to 10 hours per week and supervision between 10 and 25 hours per week.

When the custodial parent is not a recipient of child care benefit, actual child supervision costs are applied, up to a maximum. Parental allowances are included in this calculation.

If parents pay extra for food (food fee), this will not be included.

When we calculate the parents’ incomes, we consider

• gross personal income. This includes earned income from an employer, including holiday pay, overtime pay and other supplements, as well as other taxable benefits from insurance policies, use of vehicles, telephone and media
• care benefit paid by the municipality, director’s remuneration, private pension and insurance payouts.
• positive net investment income exceeding NOK 10,000. This includes such things as dividend, interest income and proceeds from the sale of real property.
• taxable monetary payments from NAV. This includes sickness benefit, unemployment benefit, work assessment allowance, disability benefit or transitional benefit.
• other monetary payments from NAV. This includes, cash-for-care benefit, extended child benefit and extra infant supplement for single parents granted to the custodial parent for the child being supported.

Discretionary calculation

If your income is significantly lower than your earning potential, we need information from you explaining why that is. That is because we need to assess whether there is a reasonable reason for your income being lower.

If we find that you have no reasonable reason to earn less than your earning potential, we may calculate your income at our discretion. That means we estimate what your income could have been, based on your education, work experience and past income level.

Child supplement

If one parent is receiving a child supplement to a benefit from NAV for the child for whom child support is to be paid, such as disability benefit or work assessment allowance (AAP), this could affect the calculation in various ways:

• The child supplement is considered income for the parent who receives it.
• If the non-custodial parent does not have full ability to pay child support, the child supplement will be applied as child support. Tax on the child supplement will be deducted.
• NAV may, on its own initiative, calculate child support when a non-custodial parent receives child supplement.

When NAV calculates child support, we take into account how much the non-custodial parent is able to pay in child support, while still having enough money left over to provide for themselves and any children of theirs in the household.

If you are the non-custodial parent and you have a low income, your child support payments may be reduced or even set to NOK 0. The child support payment can never exceed the non-custodial parent’s ability to pay it. If the non-custodial parent pays child support to more than one custodial parent and does not have sufficient income to cover all child support payments, the child support may be reduced. The amount the non-custodial parent is able to pay will then be distributed across all custodial parent recipients.

If the non-custodial parent’s income is insufficient to pay full child support for all children, the child support payments will be reduced to what he/she is able to pay. The amount the non-custodial parent can pay will be distributed between the children.

How does NAV assess the ability to pay child support?

We use fixed rates when we assess someone’s ability to pay child support. This means that we are not able to take into account your specific debt level and other expenditures. Click here for an overview of the rates.

We take the following into account:

• Tax rate and social security contributions are calculated based on ordinary rates for salary and wage earners.
• Subsistence costs are divided into two different rates. There is one rate for non-custodial parents who live alone, and a somewhat lower rate if the non-custodial parent shares their home with another person.
• The rate applied for caring for own children within the non-custodial parent’s household, is an average rate for all age groups. The standard rates applied include consumer expenditures, housing costs, child-care costs and child benefit. These are the same rates we apply when we calculate maintenance cost.
• The rates for housing costs are taken from the Statistics Norway consumer survey. There is one rate for non-custodial parents who live alone, and another rate if the non-custodial parent shares their home with another person.

Other maximum limits on how much a non-custodial parent can be ordered to pay The non-custodial parent cannot be ordered to pay more than

• 5/6, or 83.3 percent, of the child’s maintenance cost.
• 25 percent of the gross income estimated by NAV before making deductions for visiting arrangements, if relevant.

When NAV calculates child support, we also take into account if the child has personal income. The child’s income is only taken into account if the annual income exceeds NOK 56,400. 

The child is considered self-supporting if their income exceeds NOK 188,000. In these cases, we will not order the non-custodial parent to pay child support.

When the non-custodial parent has a visiting arrangement with the child, they also incur costs in connection with the visits. This means the non-custodial parent is entitled to deductions from the child support payment.

Visiting arrangement deductions apply when there is an agreement, either verbal or written, outlining a regular visit schedule, and the parties comply with this schedule. This also applies to visiting arrangements regulated by order or administrative decision. This includes settlements in court, judgments and agreements imposed by the County Governor.

Click here for visiting arrangement deduction rates (in Norwegian)

Expenditures included in the visiting arrangement deduction:

• food and drinks
• health and hygiene
• play and leisure activities
• transport
• housing costs (visiting arrangement classes 3 and 4)

Travel costs in connection with visits are not part of the child support.

Visiting arrangement calculator

NAV has a visiting arrangement calculator which is currently only available in Norwegian. For help and guidance, contact us at 55 55 33 33.

When NAV calculates child support, deductions are made when the non-custodial parent has a visiting arrangement with the child for more than two days per month. This is because the non-custodial parent then incurs the cost of visits from the child, such as the cost of food. The calculator can help you figure out which visiting arrangement class to apply in your calculation of child support.

Add the regular visiting arrangement through the year, plus visits during holidays.

Divided residence

Normally, deductions for visiting arrangement are not made if the child has divided residence.

However, the actual circumstances will be a determining factor even when there is an agreement stating that the child has divided residence. If there is deviation from the agreement, NAV may calculate child support as if the child did not have divided residence.

What if a visiting arrangement schedule exists, but the schedule is not followed?

There may be several reasons why visiting arrangements are not followed, even if there is a schedule for it. If it’s not followed through, the non-custodial parent does not incur costs in connection with visits , and will therefore not be granted a visiting arrangement deduction.

If there is a judgment, court settlement or binding agreement in place for visiting arrangement, and visits does not happen due to disagreement between the parties, the other parent may file a claim for so-called enforcement damages with the district court. 

If a child has been abducted

If a child has been abducted, Skatteetaten may stop child support payments. In order for NAV to be able to process the case as an abduction case, NAV must receive notice of child abduction from the Directorate for Children, Youth and Family Affairs (Bufdir) or the police.

The child is the one who is entitled to the child support, and the non-custodial parent must therefore continue to pay the child support as before, but the money is put into a frozen account for the child. The child will get access to the frozen account when they turn 18 years old.

The duty to pay child support normally lapses at the end of the month when the child turns 18 years old. After age 18, the child may be entitled to support until they complete upper secondary education.

If Norwegian Tax Administration is collecting and paying the child support, this arrangement will automatically cease when the child turns 18, if the child has not applied for child support through upper secondary education.

How to cease payment of child support before the child turns 18

There are several reasons for ending child support payments before the child turns 18, or to request that Norwegian Tax Administration cease collection and payment of the child support. For NAV to decide to end child support or the collection of child support, NAV must receive a notification to that effect.

Examples include situations where the child has moved to the former non-custodial parent, where the child becomes self-supporting, or where child welfare services has taken care and control of the child.

When NAV calculates child support for a child who is over 18 years old, the child support arrangement will normally remain in place until such time the child is expected to graduate from upper secondary education. If there is some doubt as to whether the child will be enrolled in a programme throughout their upper secondary education, we will consider calculating child support for one year at a time.

Child support payments will automatically cease when the time period specified in the decision ends. If the child is delayed in their education, NAV will consider whether the conditions for extended child support have been met.

The child is considered self-supporting if their income exceeds NOK 188,000. In this case, the child will not be entitled to child support. If the child’s income exceeds this amount in the child support period, one of the parties must notify NAV.

If child support payments should cease, e.g. because the parents have entered into a private agreement with the 18-year-old, or the child drops out of school, the parents must notify NAV of this. The parent paying child support may submit a copy of the agreement, or the child over 18 may give notification that child support payments should cease.

When you enter into a private child support agreement after a break-up, it is not necessary to inform or involve NAV. Since child support is a private matter, NAV does not come into the picture until at least one of you applies for NAV to determine, change or collect child support for you.

By entering into a private child support agreement, you get a more flexible agreement than if NAV is in the picture. Then you can change and adapt the contribution according to your own needs. In addition, you do not have to pay a fee for NAV to take the job of determining child support for you.

In cases where the child welfare service has custody of the child, it is not relevant to enter into a private agreement.

Normally, the child is the one who must apply after they turn 18 years old. However, the custodial parent may apply on the child’s behalf before they turn 18 years old, if preferable In that case the custodial parent must pay a fee of NOK 1,277 for the service.

Once the child turns 18 years old, they will become the child support recipient in their case. If the former custodial parent, or a third party, is applying on behalf of the child after the child has turned 18 years old, the application must include a power of attorney from the 18-year-old.

Read more about:

Child support can be calculated, or adjusted, in three different ways. The parents can

• reach a private agreement on child support
• apply for NAV to calculate the child support
• apply to have the child support decided in the country where the non-custodial parent lives

The child support is calculated by a discretionary assessment when one parent, or the child, lives abroad.

The cost of living in the country where the custodial parent lives will be taken into account. NAV also takes into account income levels, exchange rates and purchasing power.

A fee will be incurred for this service, unless prohibited by agreements between the two countries. The fee is NOK 1,277 which is equivalent to one court fee.

In most other countries, child support is decided in a judgment or court settlement.

If you want the child support to be decided in the country where the other parent lives, you can contact the proper authorities/courts in this country. If Norway has a cooperative agreement in place with this country in the area of child support, we can help you send the application to the proper authority.

Countries bound by the Lugano Convention
The countries bound by the Lugano Convention include the EU and the EFTA states Norway, Iceland and Switzerland.

If one of the parents lives in one of these countries, the parent claiming child support must normally apply to the authorities in the country where the other parent lives. There is an exception for custodial parents, who can choose whether to make a claim for child support in the country where they live, or in the country where the non-custodial parent lives.

The non-custodial parent does not have the same option. If a non-custodial parent wants to request a child support calculation or adjustment in Norway, but the custodial parent lives in a country bound by the Lugano Convention, NAV may only process this request if the custodial parent consents to this. If not, the request must be processed in the country where the custodial parent lives.

You must pay a fee when NAV calculates child support in response to an application from one parent, but you will also incur an additional fee each time one of request adjustment of the child support.

You must also pay a fee when NAV calculates the child support on our own initiative. We may do this when the custodial parent receives an advance on the child support, or when the parents did not live together when the child was born and have not reached a private agreement.

You must pay a fee if you or the other parent live abroad, if not otherwise prohibited by agreement with that country.

The Norwegian Tax Administration will collect the fee. The parents will receive an invoice.

Child support shall, at the earliest, be paid from the first month the parents no longer live together.

If the parents have a private agreement, the child support shall be paid monthly in advance, if not otherwise agreed. You decide the date by which child support shall be paid.

If you have questions about receipts or payments, you must contact the Norwegian Tax Administration on telephone 21 05 11 00. You can read more about their services online (skatteetaten.no) 

When the Tax Administration is handling collection of the child support, the non-custodial parent must make payment no later than the 25th of the month prior to the month the child support is for.

The Tax Administration will take into consideration that the non-custodial parent must have enough money to support themselves. They will apply their own subsistence rates, which are different from the ones applied by NAV in their assessment of the ability to pay child support.

The subsistence rates take account of your expenses for includes general consumption expenses, including expenses for public transport, electricity/heating, and home contents insurance, but not housing expenses. Other typical expenses will be food, clothes and shoes, health and hygiene, household items, telephone, media and other expenditure on, for example, holidays and leisure.

If there are more than 3 people in the household, a deduction of 20 per cent is made starting with person number 4 in the household. The deduction must be calculated for the youngest children.

If you live abroad, separate rates apply.

Subsistence rates are set by the Ministry of Children, Equality and Social Inclusion (FOR-2014-06-13-724).

Current rates from 1 July 2023:

The non-custodial parent may enter into a debt settlement arrangement for child support debt with the Tax Administration.

Debt settlement must be paid in addition to the monthly child support payment.

If NAV has registered debt owed by the non-custodial parent, The Tax Administration will automatically make deductions from payments, such as tax refunds and retroactive payments from NAV.