Maintenance contribution and AHV
Maintenance contribution and AHV
The issue at stake is the influence of the occurrence of the occupational pension case on the child's maintenance contribution, which is set by the divorce judge on the basis of the child's needs and the situation and resources of the father and mother. When a parent who owes maintenance reaches retirement age and receives an old-age pension, article 22ter of the Federal Law on Old-Age and Survivors' Insurance (LAVS) provides, in certain circumstances, for the granting of a pension in favour of the child. Article 71ter of the Swiss Old-Age and Survivors' Insurance Regulations (RAVS) provides that if the father and mother are no longer married, the parent with whom the child lives and who has parental authority may obtain payment of the supplementary pensions received by the other parent. Obviously, a situation in which a supplementary pension is paid directly to the custodial parent in addition to a maintenance contribution for the children would be tantamount to overcompensating the children. Swiss law therefore provides that when the debtor parent receives a pension to replace income from gainful employment, the amount of the maintenance contribution is automatically adjusted (art. 285a para. 2 of the Civil Code). Your wife receives your children's supplementary pension directly and could in fact request that this be the case. However, it is not possible for her to receive these pensions while at the same time demanding payment in full of the maintenance contribution allocated to your children as part of your divorce. You will only owe an additional amount if the supplementary pension is less than the maintenance contribution decided by the divorce judge.
