NETHERLANDS Law and Practice Contributed by: Sandra Verburgt, Petra Beishuizen and Ivo Janssens, Delissen Martens Advocaten
Duration of Spousal Maintenance The following terms apply, depending on the cir - cumstances. • Marriage without children – if spouses are married without children, the maximum term for spousal support is half the duration of the marriage (up to a maximum of five years). • Marriage with children – if there are children from this marriage, the term for spousal main - tenance will be extended until the youngest is 12 years old or for the statutory term (if the latter is longer). • Long marriages – if the marriage lasts longer than 15 years and the maintenance creditor is less than ten years from the statutory retire- ment age, then the maintenance term will be prolonged until the statutory retirement age (currently 67) or for the statutory term (if the latter is longer). • Remarriage or cohabitation – according to Dutch law, a maintenance obligation towards the other spouse will end if the maintenance creditor remarries or begins to cohabit with someone as though they were married under the law. 2.5 Prenuptial and Postnuptial Agreements Marital Contracts Spouses can exclude the statutory regime by entering into a prenuptial or postnuptial agree - ment. The mandatory form is a notary deed. They can define their own system, provided that the chosen arrangement is not contrary to the law, good morals, or public policy. Cold Exclusion Exclusion of any community of property without further settlement (“cold exclusion”) will result in the spouses having no claims whatsoever to settle against each other. This type of contract
together, half of the family income to be shared is increased by 20%. Capacity The court will take into consideration reasona - ble expenses – for example, housing expenses (30% of the net spendable income), health insur - ance costs, and a small portion for unavoidable miscellaneous costs. In standard cases, the expenses are capped at an amount equal to the social assistance benefit then increased by 30% of the net spendable income. Sometimes a com - parison will be made between the capacity of the spouses. Family courts deem it reasonable that the maintenance creditor does not have more to spend than the maintenance debtor. Impact of Children on Spousal Maintenance Obligations Spousal support is not linked to children. Mar - ried persons without children might also have maintenance obligations towards each other. However, children will influence the level of maintenance indirectly – given that the parent with care for the children will most likely give up a career and work part-time or, in some cases, not at all. The career and income prospects will therefore most likely have a negative impact on the ability to become financially independent and self-supporting. Spousal support is subject to reasonableness and fairness, whereas child support is consid - ered a fact (see 3.2 Living/Contact Arrange- ments and Child Maintenance ). Allocation of spousal maintenance is very likely in the case of a long marriage with children, but it is not auto - matic. The older the children are, the more likely it is that a court will expect the parent with care to be (partially) self-supporting where possible.
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