Child support in 2021: minimum amount of payments, conditions for receipt, lawyer’s opinion

Lawyer Ruzanna Khanamiryan told the Federal News Agency what child support you can count on in 2021, and how to get your hard-earned money from a negligent defaulter.

Love passes, but children remain, and if a wife can become an ex, then children never do. After a divorce, the spouse (or, less often, but still happens, the spouse) has a number of obligations to his family. Ideally, he or she should take an active part in raising the child, but in reality, more and more often the situation is such that children do not see not only attention and walks in the parks on weekends, but also the most necessary things.

Despite the fact that the state is constantly tightening punishment for defaulters, and bailiffs are competing in ingenuity, trying to appeal to the conscience of draft dodgers, the number of those who leave their own children without a livelihood is only growing. Neither photographs on “honor boards”, nor an appeal to the employer, nor a ban on traveling abroad, nor even the arrest of accounts (which, it must be said, often do not exist at all) help. We discussed the problem with expert lawyer Ruzanna Khanamiryan, and received useful comments from her about the amount of alimony, as well as the rights and obligations of the parties.

Federal News Agency (FAN)

What to do if your ex refuses to support the children?

There are lucky people who manage to reach an agreement peacefully, without resorting to third parties.

Ruzanna Khanamiryan: “Of course, it’s possible to do without a trial. If the parties have reached an agreement and have no claims against each other, then they can enter into an agreement on the payment of alimony, which is certified by a notary. If a citizen for some reason refuses to pay, the mother can present the alimony agreement to the father’s place of work, or to the Bailiff Service.”

If an amicable agreement, as they say, “on the shore” did not work out, or the spouse stubbornly ignores the agreements reached, there is only one thing left to do - contact the relevant authorities and prove your right to alimony through the court, and then go to the Federal Bailiff Service to they were involved in working with the defaulter. Of course, all this is very unpleasant, but this story is not about love and responsibility, but rather about greed and indifference, and there is too much at stake - the well-being of the child.

Where to start defending your rights and interests? First of all, you will need to apply to the magistrate's court, having first collected the following package of documents and made copies of them:

– certificate of marriage and divorce

- birth certificates of children

- passport

- statement of claim

- certificate of family composition

— if you think that for one objective reason or another, more money is spent on a child than required by law, then it is advisable to provide documentary evidence of your expenses (medicines, spa treatment, etc.). So, if it is proven that the child has health problems that require additional costs for treatment, then this can and should be reported in order to be able to recover half of the required amount.

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Participation in additional expenses for children

In addition to paying child support, it may become necessary to incur additional expenses for the maintenance of the child. From the provisions of Article 86 of the RF IC it follows:

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exceptional circumstances may result in the child’s parents being required to bear additional costs. Such circumstances include illness, injury, the need to care for a minor or disabled adult child;
The amount of payments that the child's parents must bear is determined by the court depending on the situation of both parties, the amount of necessary amounts and other factors. The court determines a specific amount that must be paid once or monthly;
In addition to paying for things or services that must be provided now, the court determines that the parents must bear other expenses in the future.

How much alimony can you expect in 2021? How to calculate the amount for 1, 2, 3 or more children

We asked Ruzanna Khanamiryan how to calculate the amount of alimony in order to have an idea of the minimum and maximum that a spouse who has a common child in their care can count on.

“The minimum amount of alimony is the minimum subsistence level established by a decree of the government of the Russian Federation for the purpose of paying alimony. Today it is 14,900 rubles. It is regularly indexed, sometimes 2 or even 3 times a year. Less often - one."

The same principle is used to calculate benefits in a fixed amount if a person does not work, regardless of whether he has officially confirmed unemployed status.

If, at the time of alimony, the father was working, and then lost his job, and the money was collected from him as a percentage, then the mother will need to file a new claim to change the amount to hard cash, since there will be nothing to collect interest from.

In the most favorable case, when the defendant is officially employed and has a confirmed income, alimony is calculated as a percentage as follows: for 1 child he will pay 25%, for the second - 33%, and a father with many children will have to fork out 50% of all types of earnings, including part-time jobs, creative fees and other income.

“It is very difficult to collect something from above, since the court takes into account the fact that a person needs to eat, drink and go to work,” warns Ruzanna Khanamiryan.

There is no maximum limit for alimony, but if the former spouse has some kind of excess income, and the percentage of alimony is unreasonably high, it will also be recovered in the established clear amount of money necessary to provide for the child.

Alimony for two children from different marriages

One of the most popular problems of alimony providers is paying a larger share of alimony than required by law. For example, when paying alimony for a child from a first marriage in the amount of 25 percent, the court collects from the payer another 25 percent for a child from a second marriage. This situation is not uncommon and is grounds for filing a lawsuit.

According to the law, namely Article 81 of the RF IC, the amount of alimony for two children, no matter from the same or different marriages, should not exceed 33 percent. The amount of alimony for each child, no matter what marriage, can be reduced and assigned 16.5 percent for each. The basis for filing a claim is infringement of the father's rights.

Let's imagine that Boris Fedorov works as an operator with a monthly salary of 30,000 rubles. Boris paid child support to his wife from his first marriage in the amount of 25 percent of income or 7 thousand 500 rubles, according to the court decision. Then he got married again. Unfortunately, the second marriage broke up, and the wife filed a claim for alimony. The court appointed alimony for the child from the second marriage, also in the amount of 25 percent or 7 thousand 500 rubles. Boris turned to a lawyer and prepared a lawsuit with the goal of reducing alimony to 16.5 percent for each child. The claim was considered and alimony was reduced. 16.5 percent of income is 4 thousand 950 rubles, but the court raised this amount to 5 thousand 392 rubles, which is half the cost of living for a child in St. Petersburg.

How to collect alimony

Our expert describes an approximate collection procedure as follows. If a person stubbornly does not want to pay his obligations, the recipient (or, more precisely, NOT the recipient) of alimony must contact the bailiff service, having in hand a writ of execution, a court order or a notarized agreement on the payment of alimony. The bailiffs must begin enforcement proceedings in the case and begin searching for the citizen’s property and accounts. Next, the executor is obliged to travel to the place of registration or actual residence of the debtor, if such was reliably reported, in order to describe the property and seize it for the purpose of further sale.

If the defaulter delays payment for 6 months or more, the bailiff has the right to initiate a case of an administrative offense and, according to the administrative code of the Russian Federation, involve him in compulsory labor. In addition, there is criminal liability for long-term non-payment of alimony, but you need to understand that the bailiff will not deal with this on his own, that is, the collector must constantly monitor the situation and demand the application of sanctions .

Interesting fact! “If not only the willful defaulter, but also the bailiffs are inactive, then it is possible to contact the Federal Bailiff Service and recover the amount accumulated over six months or more from the state. At the same time, it will be necessary to prove that the bailiff did not actually perform any actions within the framework of enforcement proceedings and was not fully involved in the search for the draft dodger himself, as well as his property and accounts.”

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If alimony was awarded in a fixed amount

A fixed sum of money is interesting because it cannot depend on the amount of monthly earnings. It can be established by the court in a certain number of minimum wages (minimum wages), the amount of which is annually regulated by regional legislation.

In this case, the court, when deciding to assign an amount that is a multiple of the minimum wage, is necessarily guided by the following principles:

Guaranteed preservation of the child’s normal level of material support.
Taking into account the financial situation of both parents.

Other important circumstances that deserve close attention. The amount of alimony collected when establishing fixed payments is equal to one, two, or three times the minimum wage. The judge determines their specific number based on the circumstances stated above and the evidence presented by the parties at the court hearing. A reduction or increase in the amount of payments in a fixed amount can only be realized by re-applying to the judicial authority with the appropriate application.

Can alimony be awarded that exceeds salary?

Each situation has its own characteristics, so sometimes a competent person assigns deductions that exceed the person’s official profit. This usually happens when a person does not have a regular income, does not make pension contributions, or receives additional income that is not reflected anywhere.

Such cases are considered in the general claims procedure. Both parties must be present at the trial. Each party is required to substantiate its arguments and provide evidence. Evidence must be relevant and reliable. In this case, only those papers that the person received legally will be taken into account.

If the defendant refuses to provide information about profits, then a competent person has the right to request it. To do this, the participant in the process must submit a request for information.

If the applicant can prove the existence of additional income, the judge will grant the appeal. And there is no point in appealing such a decision, since it will be a waste of time. In such a situation, after a certain period of time it will be necessary to submit an application to reduce the amount of collection. The grounds for reducing alimony payments may be:

deterioration of financial situation, so a non-working father or a person having temporary difficulties with business can make a similar application;
emergence of new creditors;
the birth of another child, for whom the payer is obliged to allocate funds;
deterioration of the payer's health;
temporary lack of income.

But if the judge erroneously determined the withholding rate, violating the norms of procedural law of the Russian Federation, then it is necessary to appeal the judicial act.

How is alimony paid?

The list of income from which funds are withheld is prescribed in Government Decree No. 841 of July 18, 1996. These include:

salary, compensation, incentive payments (bonuses, allowances, vacation pay, etc.), average monthly earnings for periods of time specified by law. All other “labor” payments, incl. upon reduction, the salary of certain categories of workers;
social benefits from the state, such as: pensions (except for survivors’ pensions), unemployment benefits, educational scholarships, disability payments;
a person’s income from business activities, from the disposal of property (for example, the amount from renting out an apartment under a residential lease agreement; dividends from shares, etc.), from the sale of products of intellectual activity (royalties);
compensation payments for moral damage caused, as well as amounts of financial assistance in connection with death or for damage to health.

How to calculate the penalty for alimony ?

Appeal against a judicial act

According to the norms of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation, an appeal may be filed against decisions of the state body of first instance that have not entered into force. The procedure for appealing procedural acts is described in Chapter 39 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation. The application must be submitted within 1 month after the announcement. In case of absence, you will have to restore the deadline; this can only be done if there are good reasons for the absence.

The complaint is submitted to a higher authority through the government agency in which the case was heard. The document must contain the following information:

Name of government agency.
Information about the applicant.
Information about the defendant and minor children.
Information about previous review.
The crux of the matter.
Grounds for appeal.
Requirements. Requirements that were not stated during the first review cannot be specified.

Just like in a claim, at the end it is necessary to make a list of attachments. The attached documents must be relevant to the case. If the applicant’s demands are justified, then the panel will cancel the previous ruling and make a decision on the case, establishing a new payment procedure, or amend the previously established procedure.

The concept of alimony is enshrined in the family legislation of the Russian Federation. The father or mother must pay these sums of money for the maintenance of their minor children under 18 years of age. Transfers are made on the basis of an agreement or a court order. In the second case, the procedure for making transfers is established by a competent person.

If the amounts approved are too high, the payer may try to reduce them. In order for the requirements specified in the application to be satisfied, one must act within the framework of the law.

Reasons

As grounds for reducing the amount of payments for alimony obligations, the plaintiff may indicate:

Temporary or permanent disability.
Dismissal from work.
Decrease in income.
Disability acquired during the period of payment of alimony obligations.
The birth of a child in a new family.

Each parent is obliged to support their children, and all controversial issues related to the fulfillment of this obligation by divorced parents are resolved by the magistrate court.

Voluntary payment of maintenance

If there are no inconsistencies regarding the payment of child support between the parents, then there are the following ways to do this voluntarily:

Without drawing up any agreement. In this case, the parents agree orally or in writing on the amount of payments and their order. This is not officially recorded anywhere. This procedure is applicable only in the complete absence of marital relations in the present and past.
Based on an agreement certified by a notary. In this case, the agreement is drawn up in writing and certified by a notary. It specifies all the necessary conditions.
Voluntary payment of alimony in the presence of a court decision. This means that the court decision is executed voluntarily without sending it to the bailiffs.

Voluntary payments to your child for maintenance are a guarantee of maintaining normal relations with both him and his mother.

Collection deadlines

You can recover funds to provide for a child at any time until the child is eighteen years old . At the same time, the legislation provides the opportunity to collect alimony for the past period, however, the maximum period for collection for the past is three years .
If alimony is not paid for a longer period, then it is impossible to receive funds for those years. An important feature of prior child support collection is the provision of physical evidence of the custodial parent's attempts to obtain payments voluntarily. The person obligated to pay child support must ignore or refuse financial assistance to the child during the specified period of time.

The principle of calculating alimony

Alimony is assigned either in the form of a fixed amount, which is determined by the former spouses themselves or the court, or as a share of income:

25% for one child;
33% - for two;
50% - for three or more minors.

If the citizen’s official income is very small or unstable, then the share will also be minimal. In such a situation, the recipient goes to court and demands the establishment of a fixed payment, based on the cost of living per child in the region of residence.

Calculation formula

If the court decides to change the method of calculating alimony from a share of income to a fixed amount, then it must also indicate the amount of payment.
Typically, it is calculated as follows:

the cost of living per child in the region of residence of the family is determined;
the resulting indicator is divided by two, since both parents must support the child proportionally.

The amount received becomes an alimony payment obligatory for transfer at least once a month.

What is a good reason to reduce payments?

There are several criteria according to which the court can reduce the amount of alimony payments for a child from the first union. These include:

The monthly payment amount exceeds 50% of the payer’s total profitability (for example, if the corresponding condition was specified in the clauses of the notarial agreement).
The payer, when paying alimony, is not able to satisfy personal needs.
The rights of the children were violated due to the unequal distribution of the payer's income (this option is possible, again, if a notarial agreement for alimony was signed between the first spouse and the payer, with an amount different from that established by law).

It is recommended to submit a claim for a reduction in the share of payments to the new spouse and the mother of the child from the second marriage. In this case, the court will oblige the father to pay child support for the second child, and therefore will reduce the amount for the first.

Terms and methods of payment

If alimony is paid by agreement of the parties, then the terms of its payment are specified in this document. These can be monthly, quarterly or annual payments. Moreover, there can only be one payment, covering all the costs of maintaining the child until adulthood.

Payment under a court order is made monthly, unless otherwise determined by this order.

As for the methods of transferring funds for child support, there are several of them. The payer has the right to choose any of them.

The most common ones can be listed:

Transferring money to the recipient in cash. In this case, the fact of transfer must be confirmed with a receipt in order to avoid the emergence of controversial issues in the future.
Through the accounting department of the enterprise where the payer works. The most convenient way, since the money is automatically debited monthly from the employee’s salary, and he does not need to worry about anything.
Self-transfer to the recipient's account or card. In this case, the card can also be assigned directly to the child. You can transfer 50% of the total amount to it. When using online banking services, you can even set up automatic payments so you don’t forget about the need to make payments.
Postal transfer and other outdated payment methods, which are now becoming obsolete due to inconvenience.

No matter how the money is received by the child, the main thing is that the payer does not forget to pay it on time and documents all the facts of payment.