Challenges in the Norwegian Child Support System: Addressing Parental Alienation and Financial Motives
Øivind Østberg. Lawyer.
Øivind Østberg.
The Norwegian child support system is in some ways supportive of parental alienation. The court´s decision on access is the basis for calculating the child support. But if actual access is less, this is what determines the deduction in total child support, according to the interpretation by the administrative body (NAV).
In theory, this should not entail a profit for the custodian parent, as the deduction is supposed to reflect the actual cost of having the child. However, this is not always perceived to be the case. In practice, economic motives related to child support could then fuel a drive towards marginalizing a parent. The more extreme variant is when a parent not awarded custody is still able to establish full actual custody, typically by means of PA. Also then NAV chooses to determine child support based on the factual situation, disregarding its illegality. These interpretations of the law are currently challenged in court.