FAQs about claiming child benefit

Once you have registered the birth of your child with your municipality (gemeente), we will send a letter to the address where the child is registered as living within 4 weeks. If you haven’t received a letter after 4 weeks, click on the link below and read what you can do.

If you live in the Netherlands and already receive child benefit and you have another child, you do not have to apply for child benefit again. After you register your child’s birth with your municipality (gemeente), you will automatically receive a letter from us showing your new child benefit amount.

It is important to register your child with your health insurer within 4 months. You can then be sure that your medical costs will be reimbursed.

You live outside the Netherlands

If you live outside the Netherlands and you have another child, you should report your child’s birth to us. We will then check whether you qualify for Dutch child benefit.

Child benefit is paid to the parent with whom the child is living. If you received the child benefit before you got divorced, and your child has been living with you since your divorce, nothing will change. However, if your child starts living with the other parent (that is, if the child spends at least 4 nights a week with the other parent), you should let us know. We will then arrange to pay the child benefit to the other parent.

If you are co-parenting , you and the other parent can decide together who will receive the child benefit. If you have both signed a written agreement to that effect, or if a court has ruled on the division of the child benefit, we will act in accordance with the agreement or the ruling. If there is no agreement or ruling, you will each automatically get half of the benefit.

Yes, that is possible for children aged 3 to 17. If your child needs extensive care because of illness or disability, you can apply to us for child benefit at twice the basic rate to help cover the extra costs. We will ask the Care Needs Assessment Centre (CIZ ) to give us their medical opinion. The CIZ will send you a form for this. They will then assess the extent of your child’s care needs. We will send you a decision on your claim for child benefit at twice the basic rate within 8 weeks of the date of your claim.

Yes, that is possible for children who live away from home because of illness, disability or for educational reasons. Whether you qualify depends on how much you contribute financially to your child’s support, or what kind of education they receive. There are also other conditions you will have to meet.