An Automated Method for Determining Alimony to Children

• Autore: Vladimir Vrecion
• Pagine: 239-252

Page 239

@I. Legal and social formulation of the problem

The legal regulations aie based on the principle that two parents (maintained) are sharing in alimony proportionally to their net income and proportionally to the needs of the children (or other maintained)

It is necessary proportionally to consider also other alimony duties of the parents (e g after divorce) and other special circumstances, which influence the living-costs of individual parents Parents and children should have as far as possible the same standard of living (also after divorce)

The alimony duties of parents should be newly determined, if some relevant factor influencing the level of alimonies is meaningfully changed¹.

The children (maintained)

1. All persons, to whom somebody s alimony duty exists, should obtain at least as much alimony as they need to cover all minimal (or conventional) living needs Subsistence level depends on the standard of living of nations, i e especially on prices of basic living needs, on age of children aed/or some extraordinary needs of children (because of illnesses ece )

2. It is necessary to determine how much alimony can exceed "he level of minimal or conventional living needs in the case of extraordinary solvent maintained

3. We reduce the level of minimal or conventional needs according to the personal income of the child maintained

   The parents (maintainers)

1. The amount of alimony, which the maintainer pays to all, to whom he has alimony duties, is proportional to his net income

2. To the maintaieer there must remain, after paying all alimony duties,Page 240 at least as much as covers his minimal, ar conventional needs. His minimal needs can be adjusted with regard to his extraordinary circumstances (to illness etc.)

3. In the case that according to the foregoing principles the maintainers are not able to cover the minimal or conventional needs of the children, a part of the claims of the children (maintained) remains uncovered It is necessary to minimize this uncovered part

   @II. Brief description of the met hod

   1) The exact method for determining alimony, which respects the above mentioned principles, uses procedures of mathematical theory of graphs and algebra The method is flexible and can be operatively adapted The method considers all relevant factors, influencing the level of alimony: level of standard living-costs, age of child, personal income of child (or of other maintained), illness of child or other extraordinary circumstances, which change his needs, net income of father and of motherf illnesses or other extraordinary circumstances influencing their needs, other alimony duties of father and of mother and personal care of children

   2) Each case of determination of alimony includes a group of children (or other maintained) and parents responsible for the alimony bound together by the relation of alimony dutties An example of alimony situation:

   [ NON INCLUDE FIGURE ]

   Aly Am AB are parents (maintainers), Bl9 B2 are children (maintained) Points Al9 Am Am BtJ B2 are called « nodes » Lines joining points Al9 A2J Am and

   Bly B2 are « edges » showing an alimony relation of maintainers Aly A.2J As to the maintained Bl9 B.2 Nodes Aly AtJ Am Bl9 B2 joined by edges will be called a «coherently orientated graph» The graph is coherent because from every node of the graph we can move along the edges to any other node of the graph

   3) The prerequisite of the method is that the court of law ascertains a complete (or sufficiently long) coherent group of maintainers and those who are to be maintained by these maintainers (parents and children)

   Page 241

   4) To each child we add the sum of his conventional or indispensable needs according to a special table (differentiated according to the different ages of the children) These conventional needs {derived from data about actual living standards) are fixed within the state for certain periods

   If a child has his own income, the indispensable need is in such case decreased by that amount We also adjust the amount of conventional needs according to other counter-typical circumstances (sickness etc ; it is possible also to use special tables)

   5) To every maintainer (father, mother) we add a value ai and we call it maintenance capacity of the maintainer

   This value is determined by the equation:

   [ NON INCLUDE FORMULE ]

   P' = net income of the maintainer decreased by any counter -typical circumstances (sickness stay in north area etc )

   blf b2, b3, , bn = values added to those maintained according to paragraph 4 above, to whom the maintainer has an alimony duty

   E = evaluation of personal care of the maintainer for those maintained The evaluation of the personal care for children we can derive from a special table (differentiated according...