Nearly €300 million in alimony remains unpaid

Separated or divorced parents in Belgium often refuse to pay alimony support for their children. A total of at least €300 million remains unpaid, according to VRT news based on figures from the department in charge of collecting alimony payments (DAVO).

Despite DAVO’s continual efforts to collect the alimony owed by parents, only about €18 million could be recovered in the past five years. In that same period, DAVO saw a doubling in the number of requests it received for help collecting alimony, to 40,000.

FPS Finance spokesperson Francis Adyns acknowledges that the amount of outstanding alimony is high. "It's a combination of two things: the unwillingness to pay, and the inability to pay,” he says.