Financial Support System for Divorced Families in Norway

Abstract

　　The authors visited the Norwegian NAV (Norwegian Department of Labor and Welfare) in August 2023 to conduct interviews about the financial support system for divorced families. A noteworthy point in the Norwegian divorce data is that “shared residence” of children by parents has reached 43% in 2020. Even in the case of arrangements where the children live with one parent, visitation averaged 7.7 days per month in 2020. The main pillars of the post-divorce financial support system are “the transitional benefit,” “the extended child benefit,” and “the cash for care benefit”. Of these, “the extended child benefit” and “the cash for care benefit” are equally distributed when parents agree to “shared residence” of their children. Regarding child support, the NAV serves as the contact point for calculation of child support, advance payment of child support, and collection of child support, thus establishing a support system that prevents financial problems for children after their parents’ divorce.