Created on 24.06.2025
Under Bulgarian law, if you are unable to work and cannot support yourself from your assets (pension, other sources of income, other property), your family members are obliged to provide you with maintenance, which is most often in the form of money, but may also be provided in other ways.
If you are in the process of obtaining international protection or have refugee/humanitarian status, are under temporary protection in the country, or are legally residing on other grounds, you have the same rights and obligations as Bulgarian citizens, including the right to maintenance.
In this article, you will learn what exactly the right to maintenance includes, from whom it can be sought, and in what order.
I. When am I entitled to maintenance?
To be entitled to maintenance, the following conditions must be met simultaneously:
• You are unable to work - i.e., you are unable to work due to illness or unsuitable age for work (young child or very elderly person). Important! Incapacity to work does not mean lack of work due to high unemployment rates or simply inability to find work. For more information on how incapacity for work due to disability/illness is determined under Bulgarian law, see here.
• You cannot support yourself from your property, which includes any income you receive as a salary or pension, social assistance or scholarships, etc., as well as available assets - real estate (e.g., an apartment, house) that can be rented out, or movable property that is not essential and could be sold. The question of whether you can support yourself from your property is specific and is always assessed by the court.
• The person who owes you maintenance must be able to pay it - here too, the court assesses the total income and property of the person from whom you are seeking maintenance.
• There must be a family relationship between you and the person liable for maintenance – you may request maintenance from members of your family, such as:
1. Your children and spouse – you must be legally married. In Bulgaria, only civil marriage is legal, and religious marriage has no legal significance;
2. Your parents;
3. Your ex-spouse;
4. Your grandchildren and great-grandchildren;
5. Your brothers and sisters;
6. Your grandparents, great-grandparents;
Important! Each of your relatives listed above is responsible for your maintenance according to their means. The law requires you to seek support from your relatives in the order listed above. This means that you can only seek support from your parents if your children or spouse (if any) cannot afford to provide it. If your parents are also unable to provide you with support, you can seek it from your former spouse (if you have one) or from your grandchildren and great-grandchildren, etc.
Important! You cannot seek maintenance from a relative if you have seriously wronged them, their spouse, children or parents. Whether there has been serious wrongdoing is assessed on a case-by-case basis. It can take various forms - active action (attempted murder, slander), inaction (failure to provide assistance in a life-threatening situation), a single act (causing serious bodily harm) or a consistent pattern of behaviour (complete lack of interest and care for a seriously ill person).
For example, if you have caused serious bodily harm or otherwise seriously wronged your spouse, children, parents, etc., you cannot seek maintenance from them.
II. Amount and type of maintenance
The amount of maintenance is determined according to your needs and the means of the person who owes it, based on the usual living conditions in Bulgaria. If your immediate family members from the first order are unable to provide you with the full amount of maintenance required, you can seek the remainder from your relatives from the next order.
Maintenance is usually provided in cash on a monthly basis. If there is a delay in payment, you can also claim statutory interest. If you agree, you can receive your maintenance in another form, for example, food, heating fuel, etc.
III. How can I claim maintenance?
If your relatives refuse to provide you with maintenance, you can file a petition with the Bulgarian court and request that they be ordered to pay it to you. In your petition, you can also request that the court award you the maintenance owed to you for the last year. For this purpose, we advise you to seek the assistance of a lawyer. They will guide and advise you if there are any specifics to your case and will help you file a claim with the court.
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Important! If circumstances change, you can ask the court to amend the maintenance decision. For example, you can request that the amount of maintenance be increased due to a change in living conditions in the country. However, the court can be asked to terminate the maintenance if the need for it no longer exists—for example, if you have found a job or have other sources of income.
IV. What kind of support are children entitled to from their parents?
Every parent is obliged, according to their means and financial situation, to provide the living conditions necessary for the child's development. It does not matter whether the parents are married. Married and unmarried, biological and adopted children have the same right to support.
Even if you have been deprived of your parental rights, you still have an obligation to support your children. Read more about your parental rights and obligations here.
Unlike the general obligation of maintenance between family members, there are some special features of child support, namely:
• It is mandatory to provide child support until the child reaches the age of 18, regardless of whether they are able to work and support themselves from their own property. Important! If the child is studying, child support is due under the following conditions:
- until the age of 20 (for secondary education) or
- until they reach the age of 25 (if they are studying at a university or college – full-time education) and
- if they cannot support themselves from their income or from the use of their property, and if
- the maintenance does not cause particular hardship to the parents;
• Both parents are obliged to provide maintenance;
• Maintenance is at least ¼ of the minimum wage for the country or BGN 262.25 per month for 2025. Depending on the child's needs and the parents' means, maintenance may be higher.
Important! The parents' obligation to provide support ceases if the child reaches the age of 16 and enters into a legal marriage, as well as if the child is adopted.
In the event of divorce between spouses, support is determined either by the court or voluntarily by the parents in the case of divorce by mutual consent. For more information on the types of divorce and its consequences, see this article.
V. Maintenance for a former spouse
This type of maintenance also has some specific features:
• You can only seek maintenance from your former spouse if you are not at fault for the termination of the marriage. Important The question of termination of the marriage due to the fault of one of the spouses is decided only by the court and at the request of the spouses. For more information on the procedure, see here.
• You can seek maintenance for a maximum of three years from the termination of the marriage, unless you have agreed on a longer period between yourselves. The court may extend this period if you are in a very difficult situation on the one hand, and on the other hand, if your former spouse is able to continue paying it.
• If you remarry, you lose your right to alimony from your former spouse.
Each case is considered individually, so if you think you need and are eligible for maintenance from your family members, we advise you to seek the help of a lawyer who can further explain your rights and help you file a petition with the court.
Finding a good lawyer in Bulgaria
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