Extra costs for children: what support covers and what is shared on top
Support does not cover everything: glasses, a school trip or driving lessons are often dealt with separately.
Checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy
French child support covers the child’s everyday costs: food, clothing, housing, transport, leisure, school meals. Occasional or heavier costs can be shared on top, provided the judge’s decision or the parents’ agreement says so. Service-public.fr gives a list: unreimbursed medical costs, school and language trips, schooling, driving lessons, phone, nursery, sports or artistic activities. Without a written clause, the receiving parent cannot force the other to pay more. The split is free: half each, or in proportion to income. For a €900 expense with incomes of €2,600 and €1,600, the proportional split puts €557 on the first parent and €343 on the second, against €450 each by halves. International families often add bilingual schooling or travel to see relatives abroad, which also need a written rule. The calculator below works it out for your incomes.
Split an extra expense
Parent A share, pro rata to income
€557
| Parent B share | €343 |
| Split A / B | 61.9 % / 38.1 % |
| Half each, for comparison | €450 |
What support covers and what can be added
| Cost | Covered by support | Sharing possible if agreed |
|---|---|---|
| Food, clothing, everyday transport | yes | not applicable |
| Housing, school meals, ordinary leisure | yes | canteen or boarding can be shared |
| Unreimbursed medical costs (orthodontics, glasses) | no, unless agreed | yes |
| School trips, language stays | no, unless agreed | yes |
| Nursery, childcare | no, unless agreed | yes |
| Driving lessons, phone | no, unless agreed | yes |
| Sports, artistic activities | ordinary leisure yes | yes for agreed activities |
Half each or proportional: the gap by income
| Income A | Income B | Proportional key (A) | A’s share, proportional | A’s share, half |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| €2,000 | €2,000 | 50 % | €500 | €500 |
| €2,600 | €1,600 | 62 % | €619 | €500 |
| €3,500 | €1,500 | 70 % | €700 | €500 |
| €4,500 | €1,200 | 79 % | €789 | €500 |
| €1,500 | €3,000 | 33 % | €333 | €500 |
When incomes are close, both methods give almost the same result. When one parent earns three times as much, the proportional split makes them carry three quarters of the cost. With shared residence, where support is often low or nil, sharing extra costs becomes the main balancing tool (see shared custody).
Drafting the clause to avoid disputes
- List the costs instead of writing “exceptional costs” with no detail.
- Require prior agreement for large expenses: a parent should not discover a trip abroad on the invoice.
- Set the key (half, proportional, other) and the reimbursement period on receipt.
- Specify the out-of-pocket amount: the part not reimbursed by social security and top-up insurance, not the full price.
A precise clause is better than support inflated “to cover the unexpected”: it follows real costs, and it can be enforced like support if it appears in an enforceable title. The parenting agreement templates include this section (see parenting agreement).
A year’s example
Take two parents on €2,600 and €1,600, a fourteen-year-old child and three costs in the year: braces with €600 left to pay, a language stay at €900 and a sports licence at €250. €1,750 in total. Half each, each pays €875; proportionally, the first parent pays €1,083 and the second €667. The gap, about €208, matters to the lower-income parent: that is why the split deserves discussion when the agreement is drafted, not when the first invoice arrives.
Keeping track during the year
A shared spreadsheet or a simple notebook listing each extra cost, the date, the amount left to pay after reimbursements, the agreed key and who has paid what avoids most end-of-year arguments. Settling every quarter rather than once a year keeps the sums small. If a dispute arises, that record, with invoices and proof of payment, is exactly what a commissaire de justice or a judge will ask for.
And tax?
The paying parent of a minor child who does not live with them can deduct, along with support, costs paid directly for the child, with receipts: a well-documented extra cost also reduces their tax. That is not the case with shared residence, where nothing is deductible. Details on tax deduction.