Child Support in Portugal in 2026 — A Practical Guide to the Pensão de Alimentos, How the Tribunal de Família Sets and Revises It, the Article 250 Penal Code Crime of Non-Payment, and the FGADM State Fund

When parents separate in Portugal, the law does not treat a child's upkeep as a private arrangement to be settled between the adults and forgotten. The duty to support a child is a legal obligation, enforceable in court and — if a parent simply stops paying — backed in the last resort by the State itself. This guide explains how child maintenance, the pensão de alimentos, is set and revised, what happens when it goes unpaid, and how the public guarantee fund steps in. It is written for parents navigating a separation in Portugal, including foreign residents, but it is not a substitute for legal advice on a specific case.

What the law means by "alimentos"

Under the Civil Code (Código Civil), "alimentos" is a broad term. Article 2003 defines it as everything indispensable to a person's sustenance, housing and clothing; for a child, it also expressly covers instruction and education. The size of the obligation is not read off a fixed national table. Article 2004 sets the governing standard: maintenance is fixed in proportion to the means of the parent who must pay and the needs of the child who receives it. Two families in identical circumstances can therefore end up with quite different figures, because a judge weighs each side of that equation.

The duty flows from parental responsibilities themselves. Articles 1878 and 1879 make providing for a child's sustenance, health and education part of what it means to be a parent, and Article 2009 lists parents among those bound to provide alimony. In practice the resident parent (the one with whom the child mainly lives) receives the payment on the child's behalf from the other.

It does not automatically end at 18

A common misconception is that child support stops the day a child turns eighteen. It does not. Article 1880 provides that if, on reaching majority or being emancipated, a child has not yet completed their education or professional training, the obligation continues — for as long as is reasonable to require of the parents and for the time normally needed to finish that training. Article 1905(2), added in 2015, goes further: maintenance set during a child's minority is presumed to continue after 18 and up to the age of 25, unless the course of study is finished earlier, is abandoned, or the paying parent shows the demand is unreasonable. For a child at university, in other words, the pension does not simply switch off at the birthday.

Who sets the amount, and how

Child maintenance is fixed as part of the regulação das responsabilidades parentais (regulation of parental responsibilities), governed by the General Regime of the Civil Guardianship Process (Regime Geral do Processo Tutelar Cível, or RGPTC — Lei 141/2015). There are two routes:

• By agreement. Where the parents agree on custody, contact and the pension, the arrangement is handled administratively at the Conservatória do Registo Civil (civil registry). The agreement is not simply rubber-stamped: the public prosecutor (Ministério Público) reviews it in the child's interest and must approve it before it takes effect.
• Contested. Where the parents cannot agree, the matter is decided by the Tribunal de Família e Menores (Family and Juvenile Court). The Ministério Público plays a central role throughout, and can act to defend the child's interests.

Whichever route is used, the figure is not frozen forever. Article 42 of the RGPTC allows either parent — or the Ministério Público — to seek an alteration of the fixed regime, including the amount of the pension, when circumstances change or the existing terms are not being honoured. A parent whose income has collapsed, or a child whose needs have grown, can ask the court to revisit the number.

When a parent stops paying

Non-payment is where the system's teeth show. The resident parent (or the Ministério Público) can open an incidente de incumprimento (non-compliance incident) under Article 41 of the RGPTC. The court can order the defaulter to comply, fine them up to 20 units of account (unidades de conta), and award compensation to the child. To make future payments reliable, Article 48 lets the court order the owed amounts deducted directly at source — from the defaulting parent's salary, pension or even the rents they collect. The debt can also be pursued through a dedicated enforcement action (execução especial por alimentos) against their income and assets.

Persistent non-payment is also a crime. Article 250 of the Penal Code (Código Penal), the offence of violação da obrigação de alimentos, escalates in tiers: failing to pay a court-set pension one could afford, within two months of the due date, carries a fine; repeated violation raises the ceiling to up to a year in prison or a fine; and non-payment that puts the satisfaction of the child's basic needs at risk — or deliberately making oneself unable to pay — can bring up to two years' imprisonment. The offence is prosecuted on complaint, and if the parent later settles what they owe, the court may reduce or waive the penalty. The message of the article is blunt: maintenance is not a debt a parent can quietly walk away from.

The State as payer of last resort: the FGADM

What if the defaulting parent has vanished, has no seizable income, or simply cannot be made to pay in time? Portugal runs a public backstop: the Fundo de Garantia de Alimentos Devidos a Menores (Guarantee Fund for Maintenance Owed to Minors, or FGADM), created by Lei 75/98 and regulated by Decreto-Lei 164/99, administered by Social Security (Segurança Social / IGFSS). When the obligor does not pay a court-set pension, the Fund advances the maintenance in their place, up to a cap, and then pursues reimbursement from the defaulter.

The Fund is means-tested and targeted at children in genuine hardship. Broadly, it applies where the child is under 18 and resident in Portugal, the maintenance ordered by a court is going unpaid, and the child's household income per head does not exceed the reference value used by Social Security, the Indexante dos Apoios Sociais (IAS). The monthly amount the Fund pays cannot exceed one IAS per child — and with the IAS set at €537.13 for 2026 (up from €522.50 in 2025), that is the current ceiling. Payments run until the child turns 18, ceases to live in Portugal, the household rises above the income threshold, or the parent resumes paying; arrears can still be chased from the defaulter afterwards. Because the precise income test and the Fund's exact conditions are set in the current text of the law and Social Security's practical guide (Guia Prático N.º 54), it is worth confirming the up-to-date thresholds before relying on them.

Claiming from the FGADM is done through the court — normally the Tribunal de Família e Menores that fixed the maintenance — typically off the back of a non-compliance incident. The court establishes that the parent is not paying, tests the residence and income conditions, and fixes the Fund's monthly amount; Social Security then pays. You will generally need the court decision setting the pension, proof of non-payment, proof the child lives in Portugal and is under 18, and documentation of the household's income.

The tax side

Maintenance has an income-tax dimension too. A parent who pays a pension fixed by court sentence or an approved agreement can, under Article 83.º-A of the personal income tax code (CIRS), deduct 20% of the amounts actually paid and not reimbursed — provided the beneficiary is not part of the payer's own tax household. On the receiving side, a court-ordered maintenance pension paid to a child is treated as taxable income, though it is taxed under its own reduced regime rather than being simply stacked onto a parent's other income. The interaction with the wider IRS deduction limits can be fiddly, so check the current rules for your situation.

Practical takeaways

• There is no fixed national scale — the amount turns on the paying parent's means and the child's needs (Article 2004 CC), decided at the Conservatória by agreement or at the Family Court if contested.
• Support does not end automatically at 18; it is presumed to run up to 25 while a child completes education (Article 1905 CC).
• If a parent stops paying, open a non-compliance incident (Article 41 RGPTC); the court can garnish wages at source (Article 48) and non-payment can be a crime (Article 250 CP).
• If the debt still cannot be recovered and the household is low-income, the FGADM can advance up to one IAS (€537.13 in 2026) per child, claimed through the Family Court.

Child maintenance rarely stands alone. It is usually decided alongside custody and contact in a separation — our guides to getting divorced in Portugal and to child benefits and parental leave for families cover the surrounding process and the other support a child may be entitled to. For families expecting a first child, our guide to having a baby in Portugal sets out registration and the parental benefits that come before any of this arises.