Questão jurídica principal
How must the obligor’s free amount be allocated when child-support needs exceed available income and there are children in different households?
Decisão extraída
The obligor’s own subsistence minimum must always be respected, but only for the obligor personally. Child-related items of children living in the same household, and maintenance paid to children in another household, must be excluded when assessing the obligor’s actual capacity. Any surplus above the obligor’s own minimum is first to be distributed among all entitled children according to their needs and the other parent’s capacity; if the surplus is insufficient, the shortfall must be spread across all children and all affected families. This supports equal treatment of the children.
Fundamentação extraída
The court relied on the principle of equal treatment of children in deficiency situations and therefore favored a proportional allocation of the father’s free amount according to each child’s share of the overall shortfall.