Child Benefits

You are entitled to this unconditional right until your child turns 18. From September of the year in which your child reaches this age, certain conditions must be met to continue receiving it. You can keep benefitting from this until your child is 25 if he/she is taking sufficient hours of lessons, enrolling for enough study credits or is registered as a job seeker after leaving school. Find the specific conditions that apply to your student (jobseeker) child here or to your child as a young jobseeker

You can claim benefits for children with whom you have a family relationship or a de facto relationship. There are some exceptions which entitle you to child benefits even if there is no such family relationship.

Family relationship

As a result of a family relationship, you may be entitled to child benefits for the children in your household as listed below:

Your own children
Your spouse’s children and joint children are treated as your own children
Your adopted children or foster children
Your spouse’s children are deemed to be your own children
Your nephews and nieces (the children of your brother or sister)
The nephews and nieces of your spouse or partner are regarded as equivalent if they are part of your household
Your (great)grandchildren
The (great)grandchildren of your spouse or partner are regarded in the same way if they are part of your household
Your brothers, half-brothers, sisters and half-sisters
The children of the person with whom you are legally cohabiting or forming a de facto household
Children who have been entrusted to you or to your partner by a judge or the administration

If your child is not in one of the above situations, contact one of our coaches.

Who gets the benefit depends on your family situation. We pay the benefits to the person or institution raising the child:

• • In most cases this will be the mother, but there are exceptions. We rely on the official population register for this. However, the real situation does not always correspond to what that register indicates. Contact us immediately if the payment is not made to the correct claimant.
  • If the parents are divorced, the rules are somewhat different. The person who receives the benefits is designated by the legislation relating to your situation. You can also contact us if you want to dispute the decision about the payments.
  • If there is no person or institution taking on the task of raising the child, we pay the allowance directly to the child. This is the case in the following situations:
    • The child is married.
    • The child has been emancipated.
    • The child is 16 years of age or older, lives in independent accommodation and has no caregiver living with him/her.
    • The child receives benefits for his/her own children.