Child Support Calculation in Turkey (2026)

When parents separate, the child's right to financial support does not depend on how the parents feel about each other. Under Turkish law both parents must contribute to raising their child in proportion to their means. This guide explains how a family court arrives at a support figure, what evidence carries weight, and how the system behaves when one parent lives outside Turkey. It is a common question for foreign families navigating family law in Turkey.

Who Pays Child Support in Turkey?

The parent who does not have day-to-day custody normally pays support to the parent the child lives with. That does not mean only one parent has a duty. Both do. The custodial parent already meets a large part of the obligation through daily care, housing and supervision, so the court asks the other parent to contribute in cash. Support belongs to the child, not to the receiving parent, which is why a parent cannot simply bargain it away in a manner that harms the child. Custody and support are decided together but remain distinct questions; we explain the custody side in child custody in Turkey for foreign parents. If a father's legal parentage is contested, support cannot be fixed until parentage is settled, which is covered in establishing paternity in Turkey.

How the Court Calculates the Amount

There is no official statutory formula and no national payment table. Instead the Civil Code directs the judge to set an amount that fits the child's needs and each parent's financial strength, in proportion. In practice the court builds two pictures side by side: the real cost of raising this particular child, and what each parent can genuinely afford. The judge then fixes a monthly sum that a paying parent can sustain without leaving the child short. Because the exercise is discretionary, two families with similar incomes can still receive different figures depending on the child's circumstances.

What Judges Actually Weigh

Several factors shape the final number. The most important are:

• The child's age, and whether there is more than one child to support.
• Real living costs: food, clothing, housing, health care and schooling, including private school or extra tuition where that reflects the family's established life.
• The paying parent's net income, assets and any other dependents.
• The custodial parent's own income, since the duty is shared.
• The standard of living the child enjoyed before the parents split.

To test what a parent claims, the court can request records from employers, the tax authority, banks and the land registry. A parent who understates income should expect the judge to look behind the paperwork. If either side disputes the figure, both should come prepared with documents rather than assertions.

Typical Amounts and an Example

Because nothing is fixed by statute, amounts range widely from one case to the next. A useful principle is that even a low-income or briefly unemployed parent is usually ordered to pay something, since the law treats support as a floor the child is entitled to, not an optional extra. Take a simple illustration: a school-age child with ordinary needs, a custodial mother on a modest salary and a father earning a solid professional income. The court might set support at a level that covers a fair share of the child's monthly costs while leaving the father able to meet his own reasonable expenses. Raise the father's income, or add private schooling, and the figure rises with it.

Yearly Increases and Changing the Order

Turkish inflation means a fixed sum loses value quickly, so judgments almost always build in an automatic yearly increase. This is often tied to an official producer price index or set as a defined annual percentage, so the amount climbs without a fresh lawsuit each year. Circumstances still change, of course. If the paying parent's income falls sharply, or the child's needs grow, either parent can bring a new case to reduce or raise the amount. The same route applies if custody changes hands or the child moves abroad; relocation questions are discussed in relocating abroad with a child after divorce.

How Long the Obligation Lasts

Support for a minor ends by law when the child turns 18. It does not always stop there. If the child is still in education after reaching adulthood, they can claim continued assistance from a parent in their own name, provided the parent can afford it and the study is genuine. Support may also change earlier if the child starts to earn a living or if custody is reassigned. Payment is separate from contact, so a parent cannot stop paying because visits are being refused, nor withhold visits because payment is late; contact is handled on its own terms, as we set out in visitation rights for foreign parents in Turkey.

Enforcement and Cross-Border Payment

If a parent simply stops paying, the receiving parent does not have to absorb the loss. Unpaid support is collected through the enforcement office, and persistent refusal can lead to a short period of disciplinary detention. When the paying parent lives outside Turkey, the picture is more complex but far from hopeless. Turkey is party to international conventions on the recovery of maintenance abroad, which give a custodial parent a channel to pursue payment in the country where the other parent resides. Foreign support orders can likewise be recognized and enforced in Turkey once the correct court process is completed. These cross-border tools also matter in wrongful removal situations, which overlap with the Hague Convention and child abduction in Turkey.