Eligibility

A claimant is entitled to a parental allowance if he or she:

• ensures the due care of a child (personally or through another adult individual or a legal entity); and
• is permanently or temporarily resident in Slovakia or is a person defined by a special regulation.

Only one beneficiary, designated by agreement of the people caring for the child, is entitled to the parental allowance. This also applies if a court places a minor child in the alternating custody of both parents, or if it approves an agreement reached between the parents.

If, within a family, there is more than one child:

• up to 3 years of age; or
• up to 6 years of age if a child has a chronic medical condition;

only one parental allowance may be claimed and only one agreed beneficiary may be designated.

A parental allowance cannot be claimed if:

• the claimant and the child are staying in a country which is not a Member State of the European Union, a party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area, or the Swiss Confederation (a ‘Member State’), and the claimant does not have public health insurance cover in Slovakia during his or her stay in that country;
• at least one of the beneficiaries is entitled to a maternity allowance or a benefit similar to maternity allowance in a Member State, and the amount of the maternity allowance or the similar benefit in that Member State for the calendar month as a whole is higher than the parental allowance;
• a country which is not a Member State pays a benefit similar to the parental allowance or a benefit similar to the maternity allowance.

A parental allowance cannot be claimed by a minor parent who has not been granted parental responsibility under a special regulation.

A parental allowance cannot be granted if the claimant is the parent of another child:

• a) who has been placed in the other parent’s custody, in replacement care, in foster care, in the care of an individual appointed by a court that has ordered an interim measure, in the care of future adoptive parents, or in the custody of a guardian; and
• b) a parental allowance has been granted to ensure the due care of that child.