Child support: how to draw up an application and transfer part of the child support payments and judicial practice

Domestic legislation provides for the right of the alimony payer to transfer part of the amount to be collected to the child’s savings account. The size of such a part cannot exceed 50%, this right arises for the payer only by decision of the court that made the initial decision to collect alimony.

When considering such cases, the court proceeds solely from the interests of the child . Thus, a corresponding change in the procedure for collecting alimony is established only if it is aimed at satisfying the property rights of a minor, the amount of alimony exceeds the subsistence level, and the recipient of alimony does not use it for its intended purpose.

It should be understood that even if half of the alimony is actually transferred to the child’s account, his mother, being his legal representative and recipient of alimony, has direct access to such an account . However, in court, such access may be limited by the permission of the guardianship authorities and their corresponding control over the use of such alimony funds.

Is it possible to transfer child support to a child’s account?

According to paragraph 1 of Art. 60 of the Family Code, a minor child has the right to receive maintenance from parents and other family members. Such funds due to a minor, including as alimony, come at the complete disposal of one of his parents , who, in turn, can only use them for the maintenance, education and upbringing of the child. In cases where the funds are used by the parent for some other purpose, this violates the property rights of the child .

According to para. 2 p. 2 art. 60 of the IC, the legislator gives the benefit payer the right to transfer up to 50% of the alimony payable directly to the minor’s account opened in a bank. However, this right may arise for the payer only if the court, at the request of such a payer, changes the procedure for fulfilling his obligation to pay benefits established by the executive document (clause 15 of the Resolution of the Plenum of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation No. 9 of October 25, 1996).

As grounds for changing the procedure for executing the decision to pay alimony, the payer may indicate that:

The parent receiving the benefit uses the alimony funds received by him for other purposes . Please note that the intended use of benefits should be considered their use for the upbringing and education of a child, as well as for maintaining a level of material wealth that allows for his full development. If the payer has evidence of spending funds for another purpose, this may become the basis for changing the procedure for collecting them.
The amount of the benefit paid exceeds the subsistence minimum for children or, in general, significantly exceeds the needs of the minor. However, the maximum amount of funds transferred to the child’s card cannot exceed 50% of the amount payable. In addition, if there is no consent to such a change in the procedure for collecting benefits from its recipient, the payer will have to prove to the court the expediency and validity of transferring to the minor’s card.

It should be noted that transfer of maintenance to the child’s account is allowed not only on the basis of a court decision, but also if his parents have entered into an agreement on the payment of alimony (Article 99 of the Family Code). Upon its conclusion, the parties may stipulate the possibility of transferring any part of the funds payable (including 100%) to the child’s savings account. According to Art. 100, art. 101 of the RF IC, the conclusion of the said agreement, as well as its amendment, are subject to notarization .

Please note that in the case of transferring the specified funds to a minor, including transferring them to a card without a court decision or without a notarized agreement between the parents, the specified transfer is not considered alimony and can be regarded as nothing other than a gift.

Postal transfer

The spouse has the right to make money transfers through post offices. To do this, when filling out the postal transfer form, you must indicate the following things:

Indicate the time period for which the transfer will be made.
Note the amount of income received during a given period of time.
Number of working days.
The number of tax deductions made by a citizen for a specified period.
Indicate the amount of outstanding payments, if any.

Application for transfer of child support to a child’s account

The request of the benefit payer to transfer part of the funds paid by him to the child’s bank account can be presented to the court as an application to change the procedure for executing a previously made court decision on the collection of alimony (Article 203 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation). Such cases are considered by the court in the ordinary course of litigation. The specified statement is drawn up by the payer as a regular statement of claim, describing in detail the situation and justifying the requirements.

Changing the procedure for executing a decision is permissible only by the court that made the original decision (clause 1 of Article 203 of the Code of Civil Procedure). Thus, the said application is submitted by the payer to the court that initially considered the case of collecting alimony from him.

An application for changing the procedure for collecting alimony benefits and transferring part of it to the account of a minor must contain:

“ Caption” or introductory part , in which the name of the court and the judge who made the decision subject to change in the order of its execution should be indicated, as well as full data of the plaintiff (payer) and defendant (recipient) - full name, full address with index, phone number, etc. .d. In addition, the application must contain the name of the appeal indicating the requirement - “Application to change the procedure for collecting alimony by transferring part of it to the child’s account.”
The motivational part , which is presented in any form. In it, the payer must indicate his obligation to pay alimony, assigned to him by the relevant court decision, which he regularly fulfills in the appropriate amount. In case of providing any additional financial assistance to a son or daughter, this must also be indicated by providing documentary evidence.

In addition, the motivation part should indicate other factual circumstances of the situation:

the cost of living for a child;
how many times does alimony exceed this minimum;
the amount of funds that can be saved in connection with a change in the order of execution;
benefits of transferring benefits to the child’s account;
facts and evidence of misuse of funds by their recipient , etc.

All these circumstances must be supported by references to regulatory documents.

The pleading part , which indicates the payer’s demands to change the order of execution of the decision, indicating the new order of execution and setting out a request to the court to satisfy these requirements.
Attachments indicating the documents attached to the application . Among such documents are copies of marriage and divorce certificates, as well as the birth of a child. In addition, the application must be accompanied by a copy of the writ of execution on the basis of which alimony is collected, as well as a bank statement indicating the personal account opened by the payer of the benefit for a minor.

Who has the right to initiate?

The RF IC states that a parent who is obligated to transfer money has the right to initiate a change in the method of paying money for the maintenance of minors.
In practice, recipients can also apply to the court for this - in both cases the conditions are the same:

Those obligated to pay alimony want to pay alimony to a bank account when they are not sure of the intended use of funds by the recipients or want the child to have an impressive amount by the time he reaches adulthood, sufficient to purchase real estate or expensive education abroad.
For recipients, transferring 50% of alimony is beneficial if families have a good income and do not need to pay full amounts, and also want their sons or daughters to have a large amount of money by the time they turn 18, which they can use at their discretion.

How to get a report on how child support is spent?

How to refuse child support?

How to transfer child support to a child's account

Before filing an application with the court to change the procedure for collecting alimony, the payer must open a savings account in any bank in the name of his son or daughter. To do this, it will be enough to provide an identification document of the payer, as well as a copy of the birth certificate. After this, it is necessary to discuss this issue with the recipient of the benefit - perhaps it will be possible to resolve it amicably, by concluding an agreement, without trial.

By concluding an agreement on the payment of alimony, the parties can independently establish the procedure for paying alimony, including the part of it that the payer will transfer to the account of the minor. The said agreement, in accordance with Art. 100 SK, must have a notarial form.

It is noteworthy that the conclusion of such an agreement is permissible even if there is a writ of execution for the recovery of benefits and its forced execution by the FSSP. In this case, the recipient of alimony needs to revoke the writ of execution from forced execution by submitting a corresponding application to the SSP unit (clause 1, clause 1, article 46, clause 3, clause 1, article 47 of the Federal Law No. 229 of 02.10.07).

Having received a refusal from the recipient of alimony, the payer submits the above-mentioned application to the court, after which he demands a change in the procedure for executing the decision in court. However, regardless of the basis on which the execution procedure is changed, transferring funds to the child’s account is permissible in the following ways:

When making an independent transfer, the alimony payer personally distributes the funds payable in the proportion specified in the agreement or a new court decision, after which he makes transfers - partly to the alimony recipient’s card, partly to the account of the minor.
If the payer is employed and the maintenance is automatically deducted from his salary by the enterprise’s accounting department, then in order to distribute funds between the accounts of the benefit recipient and the child, the accounting department must provide the appropriate basis for this. This is done by submitting an application addressed to the chief accountant and a new writ of execution or agreement, with the details of the required account.
When forced to collect alimony through the SSP unit, the payer or recipient of alimony must submit a new writ of execution to the service. If the transfer of funds is carried out through their deposit account, in addition to the writ of execution, it is necessary to write an application for the transfer of part of the money to the child’s account and attach the necessary details.

Accumulated funds can be at the disposal of a minor only when he reaches 14 years of age and only with the written permission of his parents (Article 26 of the Civil Code); until this age they can only make small household transactions (Article 28 of the Civil Code).

Judicial practice on transferring alimony to a child’s account

According to paragraph 2 of Art. 60 of the Family Code, the issue of transferring part of the alimony maintenance to the child’s account at the request of the payer, in the absence of the consent of the recipient of such maintenance, is the subject of judicial proceedings . The judicial practice of considering such cases is quite extensive and often typical - only those situations in which there are controversial issues regarding the very fact of transferring money to a child or the size of the transferred part come to court consideration.

When making decisions on this category of cases, the courts proceed exclusively from the property rights and interests of the child, and not from the nuances of the relationship between the payer and recipient of alimony.

Thus, before filing an application to change the procedure for collecting alimony, their payers must take into account that:

Courts allow changing the procedure for collecting alimony by transferring part of it to the child’s account only in cases where the amount payable is more than enough for the maintenance, upbringing and full development of the minor . If the amount of child support is less than the minimum subsistence level established for the child, changing the collection procedure will most likely be refused.
During the process, the applicant will need to prove the existence of grounds for changing the decision, the most common of which is considered to be misuse of alimony by its recipient . This can be proven on the basis of witness testimony, certificates from a drug dispensary, or based on the child’s age-inappropriate level of development. In addition, the evidence will be an act of the guardianship authorities on misappropriation, which can be drawn up at the request of the child’s father.
The approach of the judicial authority to consideration of the facts and circumstances of each case is strictly individual . Thus, before making a decision changing the procedure for collecting alimony, the court establishes the additional needs of the minor - funds for treatment, additional training, specific nutrition, purchase of seasonal clothing, etc. Only if such needs are sufficiently satisfied can a decision be made to transfer part of the funds to the child’s account.
When considering such cases, the court also takes into account the benefits that the minor will receive when receiving funds saved in his account. Thus, if the interest rate of the benefit received overlaps with the percentage of inflation and the cost of maintaining the specified account of a minor, the profitability and feasibility of changing the procedure for collecting alimony will be reduced to zero .