Child Support Regulations Need Strengthening Amid Post-Divorce Neglect

Parental divorce should not end a parent's obligations to their child, yet conflicts following separation often lead to the neglect of children's rights to care, support, education, and maintaining relationships with both parents. This post-divorce reality requires urgent attention, according to legal experts.

Dr. Endah Hartati, a researcher and Vice Dean at the University of Indonesia's Faculty of Law, emphasized that children are legal subjects with rights that must be respected, protected, and fulfilled. She stated that disputes between parents should not result in children bearing the consequences. Hartati explained that divorce legally ends the marital relationship but not the parental one, and post-divorce conflicts frequently create new problems impacting children's rights.

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From a human rights perspective, children are subjects of law whose rights must be respected, protected, and fulfilled. Therefore, dispute resolution between parents should not place the child as a party who must bear the consequences of the conflict.

To address this, Hartati believes that court decisions alone are insufficient. A clearer mechanism is needed to ensure parents fulfill their obligations. She specifically highlighted the need to strengthen regulations on child maintenance, or alimony. The current provisions in Indonesia's Law Number 16 of 2019, amending Law Number 1 of 1974 on Marriage, particularly Articles 41 and 42, are deemed inadequate.

Proposals for updating these regulations include establishing age limits for alimony, defining custody rights, setting parameters for minimum living costs covering essentials like food, education, and healthcare, and creating specific provisions for children with special needs. Standardizing maintenance costs based on parental financial capacity is also suggested to ensure obligations are both certain and proportional. Beyond regulatory reform, developing out-of-court dispute resolution mechanisms is seen as crucial for ensuring child support is met without lengthy legal processes and for enforcing payment obligations when parents fail to comply.

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The provisions, particularly Articles 41 and 42, need to be updated to better address the issues of fulfilling children's rights after divorce.