The Ministry of Justice has proposed to introduce a new type of alimony. The innovation will oblige divorced parents to pay additional rent for their child. We figure out what the essence of the bill is and why it needs to be implemented.
Additional payments According to the bill of the Ministry of Justice, for the child it will be possible to collect additional alimony for housing from the mother or father living separately from him. But only with the simultaneous observance of three conditions. Firstly, the minor and the parent remaining with him should not have a place to live. In addition, the guardian and the child must find themselves "in a difficult life situation." Thirdly, the alimony payer himself must be able to work.
The decision on the need and amount of additional alimony will be made only by the court. This will take into account "the material and marital status of parents, children." Housing payments are expected to be monthly.
According to the Family Code of the Russian Federation, while a child can count on additional alimony only if he is seriously ill, needs treatment or outside care. However, the court is also empowered to collect additional amounts from the alimony for unforeseen expenses associated, for example, with relocation.
Are there pitfalls? The innovation of the Ministry of Justice was discussed on June 4 by the members of the Council under the President of the Russian Federation for the codification of civil legislation. As the 24 Deputy Secretary of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation, Doctor of Law, Professor Lidiya Mikheeva, who took part in the meeting, told Moscow that the Council considered the initiative to be correct.
"This is the right idea. If there is a need for a child to rent an apartment, then the cost of this should be included in the alimony. But the question remains whether it is necessary to amend the current legislation, since the courts already have the right to collect alimony in an increased amount," Mikheeva.
In turn, lawyer, specialist in civil law Maria Yarmush noted that "the initiative has two sides: one is positive, the other is negative." And which of them will outweigh - it is not yet clear.
According to her, the bill at the same time "has pitfalls." First, parents will begin to fight fiercely for custody, endlessly sue, pulling the child like a rope, the expert believes. For example, it is easier for an alimony father with his own home to live with a child than to pay his ex-wife money for a rented apartment.
"We see this in the example of countries that already have such a legislative norm. The experience of these states also shows that this innovation will not reduce the number of divorces. But the birth rate will fall. Adults will take a long time to look for a suitable partner provided with their own housing, with which they are not they will be afraid to marry, "Yarmush is sure.
Because of this, the expert believes, childbearing is likely to be greatly delayed. Alimony and non-payers According to the current legislation, alimony for children is collected by the court from their parents on a monthly basis. One child is entitled to a quarter of the alimony's income, two to a third, and for three or more children, the parent has to spend half of the earnings.
Unfortunately, some parents find ways to avoid paying child support. Some of them may even be recognized as "malicious defaulters." As Lydia Mikheeva explained, in order to "earn" this status, a parent must systematically evade payments, hide income and hide from bailiffs. For such alimonyrs in Russia, criminal punishment is provided. The doctor of jurisprudence noted that in judicial practice such proceedings are rare: as a rule, the issue can be settled by bailiffs.
At the same time, since the beginning of 2019, the bailiffs have restricted almost 100 thousand Muscovites from traveling abroad. Among them there are more than 8,300 defaulters of alimony, whose total debt exceeded 1.8 billion rubles. In total, 4.4 million citizens are registered as restricted to travel abroad.
