The debt on “child” alimony in Russia by the fall amounted to more than 150 billion rubles, said the Federal Bailiff Service (FSSP) during a round table held in the Federation Council… Senators, in turn, proposed to tighten the existing legislation to solve the problem, and also recalled the proposal to create a special alimony fund in the country. Izvestia found out why the current measures do not work, whether it is possible to treat all debtors equally and whether the tightening of legislation will help to cope with non-payers.
150 billion rubles of debt
The total amount of child support arrears this year has already exceeded 150 billion rubles, said Dmitry Zheludkov, Deputy Head of the Department for Organization of Enforcement Proceedings of the FSSP of Russia, during a round table that took place in the Federation Council in mid-November.
– The amount of debt as of October 1 was about 156 billion rubles, it practically corresponds to the same period last year, – said the representative of the FSSP.
In total, as of September 2021, the Federal Bailiff Service had more than 1.3 million enforcement proceedings to recover alimony. Every third of them was initiated this year. Moreover, most of them account for cases of non-payment by parents of child support.…
At the same time, in Russia there is a tendency to an increase in the number of recoveries from debtors, noted in the FSSP…
– In total, in 2021, we collected more than 22 billion rubles. This is 9 billion more than last year, – said Dmitry Zheludkov.
To reduce the amount of debt, the Federation Council proposed to return to the idea of creating a special alimony fund… Let us recall that senators voiced this idea for the first time back in 2013. We also returned to it in 2020. It is assumed that from the funds of such a fund, funds could be paid to single parents.
Then the speaker of the Federation Council Valentina Matvienko proposed to create it on the basis of the Social Insurance Fund…
– Now the topic of creating an all-Russian alimony fund is being actively discussed (…). Perhaps, in the Social Insurance Fund, create a subdivision that, in the event of a political decision, if it takes place, could also deal with issues of exercising the powers of the so-called alimony fund – noted she.
Other options proposed by the senators at the round table include an increase in the time allotted for reconciliation of the parties when filing an application for divorce from three months to six, restrictions on the issuance of loans, and the impossibility for the debtor to evade criminal or administrative liability even in the event of transferring insignificant amounts to them on account of the debt…
A package of amendments related to the last measure is already under consideration in the State Duma. Earlier, the deputies adopted it in the first reading.
Let’s go down
The existing legislation already provides for a number of tools that allow influencing parents who avoid paying alimony after leaving the family.… In recent years, the legislative regulation of such issues has significantly improved, but the problem often arises at the stage of implementation of the mechanisms laid down in the law in practice, draw attention to the lawyers interviewed by Izvestia.
To date, the legislator has provided for several types of liability for non-payment of alimony: civil liability in the form of a penalty, administrative, that is, a fine, and criminal. In addition, malicious non-payment of alimony is an independent basis for depriving a person of parental rights, lawyer Marina Larionova lists. But all these measures, according to her, are “poorly and inopportunely” implemented by the bailiff service.
Photo: Izvestia / Alexander Kazakov
– Even in order to simply get a decision on the calculation of the debt, the parent – and this, as a rule, is the mother, and it is good if the child in her arms is one, not five – most often it is necessary to repeatedly personally visit the bailiffs, – draws attention of the interlocutor of the publication.
Due to the large number of enforcement proceedings, the bailiffs, whose actions determine how effective the work on claiming alimony will be, often cannot respond to them promptly enough. And most of the worries fall on the parent who is left with the child., agrees Anna Frolova, an independent lawyer specializing in family law.
Wherein, Given that the amount of alimony is calculated as a percentage of official earnings, a potential payer today has enough ways to circumvent the requirements of the law or get off with insignificant payments, even without falling into the number of debtors, draws attention to the interlocutor of the publication.
“Even if we talk about my practice, there are a large number of examples when a man, having received an order to pay alimony, simply officially dismisses all jobs and joins the labor exchange – as a result, it is impossible to demand money from him,” the lawyer explains.
Photo: Izvestia / Konstantin Kokoshkin
Individual entrepreneurs can limit the payments due from them by transferring most of the funds received to a personal account, the receipts to which are not taken into account when calculating alimony. In addition, in some cases, a person can “reduce” his official salary to the level of the subsistence level, which will significantly limit the amount that a parent who is left with a child can claim.
Exceptional situation
Despite the fact that the law also provides for criminal liability, real cases of bringing non-paying parents to it are not common, and potential debtors do not take the threat of criminal prosecution seriously, notes Marina Larionova.
– Judicial practice tells us that this is not a system. This is an exceptional situation, for the realization of which the same mother needs to go through many stages, she says.
As a result, most single parents would rather “take a third job” than embark on a process that would be time-consuming, financially and emotionally demanding and not necessarily successful, she notes.
The issue of collecting alimony is very multifaceted and includes not only intra-family conflicts, recalls the chairman of the Moscow branch of the society for the protection of the family “Parent All-Russian Resistance” Anna Kulchitskaya.
– When we talk about child support, we most often mean the relationship between two parents, one of whom, for example, left the family. In this case, of course, the second parent has the right to apply for such financial support for the child, she reasons. – But there are situations when parents pay alimony to the state after the child, for example, was removed from the family…
Photo: Izvestia / Dmitry Korotaev
Vulnerable are low-income parents, including single parents who are determined to raise and take care of a child, but faced difficulties due to lack of funds…
– Such cases are very common, especially in the regions. We all know that there are mothers who would like to take care of a child, but they do not have enough funds. Sooner or later, the child goes to school, the teachers see that he, for example, is poorly dressed or the apartment is not in the best condition, and they turn to custody, – continues the interlocutor of the publication.
In this case, guardianship often removes the child from the family until the violations are eliminated: “At this time, the mothers are prescribed alimony. It turns out that she must simultaneously improve housing conditions and pay alimony for the child, although she is already strapped for funds. “
Often it all ends with after solving all material problems due to the accumulated alimony debts, such a parent is deprived of parental rights, and the child is sent to an orphanage, although this family could be tried to save, the expert sums up.
Put in control
Alimony fund could be one of the most effective ways to solve the problem of non-payment of alimony, Anna Frolova is sure. But this initiative has been discussed for many years, and so far no bills have been introduced in this regard, the lawyer notes.
In the current circumstances, it may be most effective for parents who are unable to obtain child support payments to go to court.
Photo: Izvestia / Dmitry Korotaev
– We cannot immediately assign a fixed amount of alimony, because there are times when a person is ready to pay, but he really, for example, was fired from his job. Especially now, in a pandemic, she says. – But if the mother or father of the child sees that the second parent is deliberately trying to hide part of the income in order to reduce the amount of alimony, it is best to immediately go to court with a request to appoint a fixed amount based on, among other things, his tax reporting for the last three years.
In parallel with the improvement of legislative mechanisms, it is necessary to strengthen preventive work aimed at increasing the responsibility of parents, including in the case of divorce., believes Anna Kulchitskaya. In addition, it is necessary to make the legislation more flexible, given that low-income people who are interested in keeping a family or a child are among the payers of alimony.
In the case of hard-core non-payers, strengthening preventive measures will not be enough. It is necessary that they are aware of the real possibility of punishment, Marina Larionova is sure. “It makes no sense to explain to them that their children are starving. They already know it, they just don’t care. It is necessary to ensure that alimony evasion cases can be brought to court without significant effort on the part of the parent, who is already not up to it. Including, perhaps, it would be worth introducing prosecutorial control over the work of bailiffs, ”she sums up.
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source https://pledgetimes.com/long-demand-the-amount-of-child-support-debts-exceeded-150-billion-rubles/
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