To claim child maintenance, you must determine the reasonable monthly needs of the child. The general rule is that a child’s share of the common expenses in the household is determined by allocating one-part per child and two-parts per adult or major child.

The following formula is applied in practice to determine the contribution of each parent:

Parent’s gross income		Child’s needs
	X
Total gross income of both parents		1

For example: If the child’s combined expenses amount to R5 000 per month, maintenance is calculated as follows:

Total monthly expenses of child = R5 000
    Parent A gross income = R30 000
    Parent B gross income = R20 000

Total gross income of Parents = R50 000
    Parent A contribution = R3 000
    Parent B contribution = R2 000

The following calculator can be used to calculate the reasonable monthly needs of the child/ren:

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