Child support is the expenditure for raising a child, and it is the responsibility of each parent, irrespective of his/her financial condition, to provide it.

It is the duty of each of a child’s parents to provide their children with the minimum means of support each month in the following amount:

- for each child from the moment of his or her birth until he or she reaches the age of 7 years LVL 30;

- for each child from the age of 7 years until her or she reaches the age of 18 years LVL 35.

The Administration of the Maintenance Guarantee Fund provides child support in the following cases:

- If the implementation of the court decision (court judgement) on the collection of child support payments is declared impossible by the law enforcement officer;

-  If the parent who has to pay child support for his/her child as decreed by the court decision (judgement) pays less than the minimum child support (not exceeding the amount of payment set by the court decision).

In order to receive child support, an applicant has to submit a specific application form either in person at the Administration of the Maintenance Guarantee Fund or send it by mail.

Child support is paid once a month by transferring the money to the account of the credit institution indicated by the applicant.

In accordance with Article 1, Paragraph 3, of the Law on the Maintenance Guarantee Fund, a debtor is a parent who by a decision of the court has an obligation to pay support to his/her child, and who does not comply with the court’s decision or who does comply with it but does not pay the minimum child support set forth by the Cabinet of Ministers in accordance to Article 179 of the Civil Procedure Law.

As of the moment when the Administration of the Maintenance Guarantee Fund starts to pay the child support that by court decision had to be paid by the parent, the parent becomes a debtor to the state.

The recovery of child support disbursed from the Maintenance Guarantee Fund is not subject to the statute of limitations; that is, the child support payments and the relevant interest may be deducted from any income of the debtor at any period of his/her life (for example, from a scholarship, allowance or pension).