Law firm guidesCross-border and private international law

He lives abroad and has stopped paying child support

Last updated 2026-09-22 · Reviewed by Jaime Piñeira Pardo, registered with the ICAM bar, no. 138826

The short answer

You can sue in Spain even if the person liable lives abroad: Article 3 of Regulation 4/2009 gives jurisdiction to the court of the creditor's place of residence. Inside the Union no exequatur is needed, the Annex I certificate is enough. Each unpaid monthly instalment prescribes five years after it falls due, so waiting does not cost you strength, it costs you instalments.

You separated, a court set maintenance for the children and for a while the money arrived. Then he left: Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States, Morocco, it hardly matters where. He changed his number, stopped answering and has paid nothing for months. You hold a Spanish judgment, or one issued over there, and the feeling that it is worthless because he is three thousand kilometres away. What you want to know is whether you can force him to pay without moving to his country, whether the arrears can still be claimed, and how much time you have left before you no longer can.

The case, in five lines

What is brought: Cross-border maintenance claim and enforcement. Where there is no prior decision, the maintenance action is brought under Article 3 of Regulation 4/2009. Where a title already exists, it is enforced in the State where the debtor earns or holds assets, through salary attachment and, within the Union, a European Account Preservation Order.
Before which court: To claim from scratch, the civil section of the Tribunal de Instancia of the place where the person entitled to be paid resides, under Article 3(b) of Regulation 4/2009. To enforce within the Union, the body designated by the State where the debtor works or holds accounts, with territorial jurisdiction set by his habitual residence or by the place of enforcement (Article 27). If the decision comes from a country with no applicable convention, exequatur is sought before the Tribunal de Instancia of the domicile of the party against whom it is requested, under Article 52 of Law 29/2015.
Deadline: Each monthly instalment has its own clock, and it starts on the day it fell due, not on the day the judgment became final. Article 1966 of the Civil Code sets a five-year prescription period for the action to demand maintenance payments, and Article 518 of the Civil Procedure Act makes the enforcement action lapse after five years. When enforcing in another Member State, Article 21 of Regulation 4/2009 allows the debtor to raise prescription, but the longer of the two periods applies, that of the State of origin or that of the State of enforcement. If there is still no decision, Article 148 of the Civil Code provides that maintenance is payable only from the date the claim is filed: what came before is not recovered. Future maintenance does not lapse; what is lost is the arrears, one month at a time.
Who can bring it: The parent who lives with the minor child, acting on the child's behalf. An adult child still living in the family home without financial independence, in their own name, and also the parent they live with for as long as they remain there. The former spouse, as regards compensatory maintenance. In addition, under Article 56 of Regulation 4/2009 the creditor may route an application for recognition, enforcement or modification through the Spanish Central Authority, the Subdirección General de Cooperación Jurídica Internacional.
Financial risk: The real risk is not costs, which in enforcement are rarely imposed on the claimant, but enforcing against an insolvent debtor: time goes into tracing assets and nothing attachable appears. If a European Account Preservation Order is sought and it is later shown that it was not warranted, Regulation 655/2014 makes the creditor liable for the harm caused to the debtor and allows the court to require security up front. In declaratory proceedings, dismissal may carry an order for costs. And if you let the deadlines run, the result is not losing the case: it is recovering less, because the oldest instalments fall outside.

You sue here, not there

Article 3 of Regulation 4/2009 gives jurisdiction, at the claimant's choice, to the court of the place where the defendant is habitually resident or to the court of the place where the creditor is habitually resident. That second option is the one almost nobody uses and the one that changes the whole case: if the child and the parent caring for the child live in Spain, the case is heard in Spain, in Spanish and without travelling.

And it works even if the person liable lives outside the European Union. The Regulation's jurisdiction rules operate regardless of where the defendant is domiciled, so the creditor's residence in Spain is enough to open proceedings even if the father is in Morocco, Peru or the United States. The Provincial Court of Barcelona recalled this in a decision of 4 June 2026: the 1956 New York Convention is a route of administrative cooperation, not an obstacle that closes off direct access to the court.

There is an added effect worth knowing. Article 8 of the Regulation stops the debtor from bringing proceedings in another State to modify the decision or replace it with a new one for as long as the creditor remains habitually resident in the State where it was given. Put differently: if you obtain the judgment in Spain and continue to live here, he cannot go shopping for a more lenient court in his own country.

Inside the Union there is no longer any exequatur

Article 17 of Regulation 4/2009 abolished exequatur between Member States bound by the 2007 Hague Protocol. A Spanish decision is recognised in the others without any procedure being required and without any possibility of challenging that recognition, and it is enforceable there without anyone having to declare it enforceable. You do not ask for permission: you enforce.

What you need is paperwork, not litigation. Article 20 requires three things: a copy of the decision satisfying the conditions necessary to establish its authenticity, the extract issued by the court of origin on the Annex I form of the Regulation and, where arrears are claimed, a document setting out the state of the debt and stating the date on which the calculation was made. That third document is the one that stalls the most files and the one most often sent badly. In addition, the authorities of the State of enforcement cannot require you to translate the decision.

Once there, Article 41 subjects enforcement to the law of the State of enforcement and on the same conditions as if the judgment had been given in that State. Article 42 prohibits any review as to substance, so the foreign court does not reopen the amount. The debtor is left with two doors, those of Article 21: arguing that the right to enforce has become time-barred, or that the decision is irreconcilable with another. And Article 19 gives him forty-five days to seek a review if he was not served in a way that allowed him to defend himself.

Two exceptions are worth keeping in mind. Denmark is not bound by the 2007 Hague Protocol, so a Danish decision still requires the declaration of enforceability under Article 26. And the United Kingdom left the Union on 1 January 2021: the Regulation no longer applies to it, the 2007 Hague Convention does, and that works differently and has its own deadlines.

Outside the Union, the route depends on the country

The Hague Convention of 23 November 2007 on the international recovery of child support is the first option. Among others, it is applied by the United States, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia since 1 July 2025, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Guyana, Turkey, Ukraine, Norway, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Kazakhstan, New Zealand and the Philippines.

Its mechanics are convenient. The competent authority of the requested country declares the decision enforceable without delay, with neither the applicant nor the respondent making prior submissions, and may refuse only where recognition would be manifestly incompatible with public policy. The debtor then has thirty days to appeal, or sixty if resident outside that State. Enforcement is carried out under the law of that country and the Convention expressly requires it to be prompt.

If the country is not in the 2007 Convention, the next look is at the New York Convention of 20 June 1956, which binds Spain with Morocco, Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Uruguay, Colombia, Brazil, Algeria and Tunisia, among others. It works through authorities: a transmitting agency in Spain and an intermediary institution in the debtor's country, which acts on the creditor's behalf within the powers the creditor confers. It is slower and depends on the diligence of the foreign body, but it does not force you to litigate abroad in person.

And if neither applies, there remains exequatur under Law 29/2015. The application is filed before the Tribunal de Instancia of the domicile of the party against whom recognition is sought, with a court agent and legal representation, and the other side has thirty days to oppose. The grounds for refusal in Article 46 are exhaustive: public policy, manifest infringement of the rights of the defence, a matter within exclusive Spanish jurisdiction, a decision irreconcilable with another, and lis pendens in Spain. Nothing else. The case is not retried.

The clock: five years, running month by month

Arrears do not wait. Article 1966 of the Civil Code sets a five-year prescription period for the action to demand payment of maintenance, and Article 518 of the Civil Procedure Act makes the enforcement action based on a judgment lapse after five years. The question that decides your case is not what the period is, but when it starts to run.

In family matters the criterion gaining ground does not count the five years from the judgment becoming final, but from the due date of each unpaid instalment. The Provincial Court of Barcelona, eighteenth section, applied it bluntly in January 2018: the July 2011 instalment had lapsed because the enforcement claim was filed on 20 July 2016. Two weeks late and that instalment was no longer recoverable.

In practical terms: you do not lose the case in one go, you lose it one instalment a month. The child's right to receive maintenance remains intact and future maintenance does not lapse while the obligation subsists. What evaporates is the old money, and it evaporates quietly, with nobody warning you.

When enforcing in another Member State there is a nuance in your favour. Article 21 of Regulation 4/2009 allows the debtor to raise prescription, but specifies that the law of the State of origin applies, or that of the State of enforcement if the latter sets a longer period. Some legal systems have periods longer than the Spanish five years, so choosing the country of enforcement well can rescue arrears that would already be lost here. That is a strategic decision, not a form-filling one.

And if no decision exists yet, every week counts for a different reason: Article 148 of the Civil Code provides that maintenance is payable only from the date the claim is filed. All the time spent trying to persuade him by message is time that is never paid for.

What wins the case is knowing where he gets paid

A judgment against someone who cannot be located is a piece of paper. The work that decides the outcome is the asset work, and the Regulation offers tools very few people activate. Article 61 requires the requested Central Authority to deploy all appropriate and necessary means to obtain the debtor's address, his income, the identification of his employer, his bank accounts and his assets. That information is requested through the official channel, not hunted down yourself online.

Within the Union there is also the European Account Preservation Order of Regulation 655/2014. Its Article 5 allows it to be sought even before a judgment exists, and its Article 14 allows the court itself to require the information authority of the State of enforcement to locate the debtor's bank and account when you only suspect he has money there. Maintenance obligations between living persons are not excluded from that Regulation: its Article 2 only leaves out those arising from succession.

The order is issued without hearing the debtor first. He finds out when the bank has already frozen the balance. In exchange, the court may require security and the creditor is liable for the harm if the measure later turns out not to have been warranted, so it is a weapon wielded with the bank statement in front of you, never on a hunch.

In parallel, the most effective measure is still the simplest: attaching his salary in the country where he works. Under Article 41 of the Regulation, attachment there follows local rules, just as if the judgment were domestic, and the deduction is made by the employer month after month, with no way for him to dodge or forget it.

Two warnings that change the strategy

The first is the law applicable to the amount. Article 15 of the Regulation refers to the 2007 Hague Protocol, which as a general rule subjects the maintenance obligation to the law of the State where the creditor is habitually resident. If the child lives in Spain, maintenance is calculated under Spanish law even if the person liable has been abroad for ten years and even if amounts there are derisory. That usually favours the claimant and should be argued expressly from the very first submission.

The second is the Maintenance Payment Guarantee Fund. It advances up to one hundred euros a month per child for a maximum of eighteen months where the family unit's resources do not exceed the limits of Royal Decree 1618/2007. But its Article 2 requires that the decision recognising maintenance have been given by Spanish courts, and also that enforcement have been sought without payment being obtained. A foreign title, on its own, does not open that door. It is one more reason to sue here under Article 3 of the Regulation rather than settle for the judgment issued over there.

On the criminal route, which is the first thing many clients ask about: Article 227 of the Criminal Code punishes failure to pay two consecutive or four non-consecutive monthly instalments set in a judicially approved agreement or in a court decision. It works as pressure and as a way of putting the default on record, but when the person liable lives abroad, service and enforcement of the sentence run into his absence. What actually recovers money is attachment, not the complaint. At Managora we run both, and in that order.

How we run the case, step by step

1
Pin down the date of each default and count backwards
Before anything else, the month-by-month table is drawn up: which instalment fell due, on what day, how much was paid and how much is missing. That is where the instalments about to reach five years from their due date appear, and they are the ones that force an immediate filing. This table is not internal bookkeeping: it is the document under Article 20(c) of the Regulation, the statement of arrears with its calculation date, and it travels with the file.
2
Decide whether to claim afresh in Spain or enforce the title you already hold
It is not always in your interest to rely on the foreign judgment. Suing in Spain under Article 3(b) of the Regulation brings three advantages: the amount is calculated under Spanish law by virtue of the 2007 Hague Protocol, Article 8 blocks the debtor from seeking a softer court in his own country, and only a Spanish title opens the Guarantee Fund. If a Spanish title already exists and only he is abroad, you go straight to enforcement.
3
Locate the money before moving the paperwork
The Article 56 application is routed through the Spanish Central Authority so that the other State's authority activates Article 61 and returns address, income, employer, accounts and assets. Within the Union, in parallel, the court is asked for the Article 14 order under Regulation 655/2014 so that the information authority identifies the bank and the account. Enforcing blind burns months and tips off the debtor.
4
Assemble the Article 20 package before requesting anything
Authentic copy of the decision, Annex I extract issued by the very court that gave it, and a dated statement of arrears. The extract is issued by the court of origin and must be formally requested, which takes time: you ask for it on day one, not on the last day. That package is what turns a Spanish judgment into a title enforceable in Lisbon, Berlin or Dublin with no intermediate litigation.
5
Enforce where he gets paid, not where you live
Under Article 27, territorial jurisdiction is set by the debtor's habitual residence or by the place of enforcement. Salary attachment is sought before the body of the State where he works and, if a bank balance has been located, the European Account Preservation Order. Article 41 guarantees that it is treated there like a domestic judgment and Article 42 prevents the amount from being reopened.
6
Close down the future, not just the past
Recovering the arrears without securing the months to come means repeating the problem a year from now. You seek the recurring payroll deduction, whatever guarantees and deposits are appropriate and, under Article 148 of the Civil Code, the urgent interim measures to secure advances and provide for future needs. If the family unit meets the income limits, the Fund advance is applied for in parallel.

The evidence that decides the case

The certified statement of unpaid instalments with the date on which the calculation was made. It is the Article 20(c) document and it is what fixes the figure: without it the foreign authority does not know how much to claim; with it the amount stops being arguable.
The Annex I extract issued by the court that gave the decision. It is the judgment's passport and only the court of origin can issue it. Requesting it late is the most frequent cause of lost months, and during those months instalments keep prescribing.
The debtor's banking and employment trail: old payslips, transfers that did arrive, the name of the company he works for, the IBAN he paid from when he was paying. A single old IBAN turns a suspicion into a European Account Preservation Order.
Proof of the habitual residence of the child and of the carer: municipal registration, school enrolment, tenancy agreement, health card. It supports both jurisdiction under Article 3(b) and the application of Spanish law to the amount under the 2007 Hague Protocol. It is the item the defendant attacks first.
Proof that the defendant was duly served in the proceedings of origin, with the delivery trail. That is the flank he defends from: Article 19 of the Regulation gives him forty-five days to seek a review, and Article 46(b) of Law 29/2015 turns the defect into a ground for refusal.
His actual financial capacity: tax returns from his country, land registry entries, company shareholdings, vehicles. Without this you obtain a judgment and recover nothing, which is the worst kind of win.

What closes the door

Waiting for him to come to his senses and claiming four years later. Each instalment has its own five-year period from its due date, so waiting does not postpone the problem: it eats it away from the other end, and the oldest instalments drop out of the file with nobody announcing it.
Claiming only through messages and demands, without filing a claim. Article 148 of the Civil Code provides that maintenance is payable only from the date the claim is filed. The months of conversation, promises and informal mediation are never paid for, however many screenshots you keep.
Accepting occasional payments without recording in writing which month they are allocated to. The Civil Code starts from the premise that a receipt for the last instalment of a debt, with no reservation by the creditor, extinguishes the earlier instalments (Article 1110, with the special rule of Article 1621 for periodic payments). Every partial payment must be allocated to a specific instalment, in writing.
Exhausting enforcement in Spain against someone who has nothing here. Territorial jurisdiction is set by Article 27 according to the debtor's habitual residence or the place of enforcement: if he is paid in Hamburg, you enforce in Hamburg. Draining the Spanish procedure first burns months, warns him and adds nothing.
Sending the decision abroad without the Annex I extract and without the statement of arrears. Article 20 requires them, and the receiving authority returns the file without entering into the merits. You lose the whole round and start again with less time on the clock.
Assuming that a foreign title opens the Maintenance Payment Guarantee Fund. Article 2 of Royal Decree 1618/2007 requires the decision to have been given by Spanish courts and enforcement to have been sought without payment. Anyone relying on the foreign judgment finds out once a year has already been lost.

The law that applies

Art. 3 Reglamento 4/2009. Allows the claim to be brought, at the creditor's choice, before the court of the defendant's habitual residence or that of the creditor's own habitual residence. It is the basis for litigating in Spain even if the person liable lives abroad. 32009R0004
Art. 8 Reglamento 4/2009. Stops the debtor from bringing proceedings in another State to modify the decision or obtain a new one while the creditor remains habitually resident in the State where it was given, save for exhaustively listed exceptions. 32009R0004
Art. 15 Reglamento 4/2009. Refers the law applicable to the maintenance obligation to the 2007 Hague Protocol, which as a general rule applies the law of the State of the creditor's habitual residence. 32009R0004
Art. 17 Reglamento 4/2009. Abolishes exequatur between Member States bound by the 2007 Hague Protocol: the decision is recognised with no procedure at all and is enforceable without any declaration of enforceability. 32009R0004
Art. 20 Reglamento 4/2009. Lists the enforcement documents: authentic copy of the decision, Annex I extract issued by the court of origin and, where applicable, a document stating the arrears with its calculation date. Translation of the decision cannot be required. 32009R0004
Art. 21 Reglamento 4/2009. Limits the grounds for refusal or suspension: prescription of the right to enforce, applying the longer of the periods of the State of origin and the State of enforcement, and irreconcilability with another decision. 32009R0004
Art. 27 Reglamento 4/2009. Sets territorial jurisdiction for enforcement by the habitual residence of the party against whom it is sought or by the place of enforcement. You enforce where the debtor is paid or holds assets. 32009R0004
Art. 61 Reglamento 4/2009. Requires the requested Central Authority to obtain the debtor's address, income, the identification of his employer, his bank accounts and his assets. It is the official route to locating the money. 32009R0004
Art. 1966 Código Civil. Sets a five-year prescription period for the action to enforce the obligation to pay maintenance and, generally, payments due yearly or at shorter intervals. BOE-A-1889-4763
Art. 148 Código Civil. Maintenance is due from the moment it is needed, but is payable only from the date the claim is filed. It also enables urgent interim measures to secure advances and future needs. BOE-A-1889-4763
Art. 518 Ley de Enjuiciamiento Civil. The enforcement action based on a judgment lapses if the enforcement claim is not filed within five years. For periodic maintenance, the prevailing criterion counts that period from the due date of each instalment. BOE-A-2000-323
Arts. 5 y 14 Reglamento 655/2014. Allow the European Account Preservation Order to be sought even before judgment and the information authority of the State of enforcement to be required to locate the debtor's bank and account. 32014R0655
Arts. 46 y 52 Ley 29/2015. Govern exequatur where no regulation or convention applies: exhaustive grounds for refusal (public policy, rights of defence, exclusive jurisdiction, irreconcilability, lis pendens) and jurisdiction of the Tribunal de Instancia of the defendant's domicile. BOE-A-2015-8564
LO 1/2025. Reorganises the judicial structure: the former single-judge courts were merged into the Tribunales de Instancia, with sections by subject matter. Since the end of 2025 that is the correct name of the body before which cases are brought. BOE-A-2025-76

Each article checked against the consolidated text published in the BOE (the Spanish official gazette).

Frequently asked questions

Do I have to go to his country to sue him?

No. Article 3(b) of Regulation 4/2009 lets you sue before the court of your own habitual residence, and that rule applies even if he lives outside the European Union. The proceedings take place in Spain, in Spanish, before the civil section of your Tribunal de Instancia. What does happen abroad is enforcement, because the money is there, and that part is handled in writing without you travelling.

He has not paid for three years. Can I claim all of it?

Yes, those three years are covered. The limit is five years and it runs instalment by instalment from the day each one fell due, not from the date of the judgment. What is urgent is identifying the instalments about to reach five years, because those are lost on their own while you decide. If you enforce in another Member State, Article 21 of the Regulation may give you longer where that country's law sets a longer period.

He says a Spanish judgment is worthless in his country.

Inside the European Union that is false. Article 17 of Regulation 4/2009 abolished exequatur: the Spanish decision is recognised there with no procedure at all and with no possibility of challenging that recognition, and it is enforceable without any prior declaration. All that is needed is the authentic copy, the Annex I extract and the statement of arrears. Outside the Union it depends on the country, but under the 2007 Hague Convention enforceability is declared of the authority's own motion and he has only thirty days to appeal, or sixty if resident in another State.

I do not know where he works or which bank holds his money. Can anything be done?

Yes, and it is precisely the work that decides these cases. Article 61 of the Regulation obliges the Central Authority of the country where he lives to obtain his address, income, the identification of his employer, his accounts and his assets, and that request is routed through the Spanish Central Authority. Within the Union, Article 14 of Regulation 655/2014 is added, allowing the court to be asked to require the information authority to locate the bank and the account.

In the meantime, can I apply for the Guarantee Fund advance?

Only if the decision recognising maintenance was given by Spanish courts and enforcement has already been sought without payment, and provided you meet the income limits of Royal Decree 1618/2007. A foreign judgment on its own does not give access. The advance goes up to one hundred euros a month per child for a maximum of eighteen months, so it is a bridge rather than a solution, but for many families it makes the difference while enforcement moves forward.

Is filing a criminal complaint worth anything?

It works as pressure and puts the default on record: Article 227 of the Criminal Code punishes failure to pay two consecutive or four non-consecutive instalments set in a court decision or in a judicially approved agreement. That said, if he lives abroad, serving him and enforcing the sentence run into his absence, and meanwhile no money arrives. What actually recovers money is attaching his salary or his account. The sensible course is to open the civil route first and weigh the criminal one as leverage, not the other way round.

This guide explains how the action works in general. It does not replace the study of your own case: deadlines depend on when things happened and on what you have done since.