Single parent's allowance can be paid to single parents who:

• Reside in Iceland
• Have two or more dependent children under the age of 18
• Are registered with the same legal domicile as the children in question

Single parent's allowance is suspended when:

• Cohabitation with a party other than the parent of a child has reached a period of one year
• Cohabitation is entered into with the children's parent or former cohabiting partner
• Cohabitants have a child together, even if period of cohabitation has not reached one year
• Recipient of payments enters into a marriage
• Recipient of payments moves out of Iceland

Single parent's allowance is taxable but not income-related.

When social-insurance benefits are suspended due to stay in an institution, the spouse of a disability pensioner may be entitled to single parent's allowance. It is also permissible to pay single parent's allowance to the spouse of a person who is serving a prison sentence, or has been remanded to custody, if the detention has lasted for at least three months.

Documents supporting the application

• Decision of child support payments from the District Commissioner
• If the applicant is single due to the death of a spouse, single parent's allowance is applied for at the same time as death benefits and then without supporting documents, ie. if the applicant's children are the children of the deceased
• Confirmation of change in custody of a child must be submitted if the applicant has not previously had custody of the child
• If the applicant is the spouse of a prisoner and their incarceration has lasted longer than three months, confirmation from prison authorities on the period of incarceration must be submitted

The processing time for single parent's allowance applications is about eight weeks, based on all documents being received.