Obtaining Maintenance Abroad

ATTENTION! Text translated automatically from the Polish version.

This study is a collection of basic information in the field of law regarding the recovery of maintenance payments for children abroad and in Poland.

Methods of enforcing maintenance abroad

The most significant are:

  1. The New York Convention (applicable when the obligated person resides in the territory of one of the states party to the Convention, which is not a member state of the European Union).
  2. Council Regulation (EC) No 4/2009 (applicable when the obligated person resides in the territory of one of the EU member states).
  3. Bilateral agreements – Poland has bilateral agreements with: Algeria, Belarus, China, Iraq, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia, Serbia, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Cuba, Morocco, Mongolia, Russia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, Vietnam, Libya and Egypt.

STAGE I – Negotiations

In maintenance cases, preliminary negotiations are generally recommended.

STAGE II – Court case

If negotiations fail, it will be necessary to pursue the matter through the courts and obtain a ruling imposing a maintenance obligation on the debtor.

STAGE III – Enforcement abroad

If negotiations prove ineffective, compulsory enforcement must be pursued (ideally after obtaining a Polish court ruling).