What to do if one of the parents does not pay child support?

The Family Code of Ukraine establishes that the child's parents are obliged to take full care of the development of their joint children.

At the same time, it is not important whether such persons are married to each other, because the responsibilities for the maintenance of children arise from the parents from the moment of their birth and until the children reach 18 years of age, and in some cases 23 years of age (if the child is studying).

The institution of alimony is provided for in the legislation of Ukraine in order to fully ensure the maintenance of a child. As a rule, these financial payments are paid by the parent of the child who lives separately from her.

However, what if one parent does not pay child support? We will talk about this legal aspect in this informative article.

How to force a person to pay alimony?

First of all, it is worth noting that in order to oblige a person to properly pay alimony, it is necessary to have "in hand" the relevant decision of the judicial authority.

To do this, you need to apply to the court with a claim for the collection of alimony at the main place of residence of the plaintiff (for example, the mother of the child) or the person who must pay them (the defendant - the father of the child).

The application should be accompanied by documents that confirm the facts that the person cannot support the child on his own, and therefore he needs to collect alimony for his full development and upbringing. It is also necessary to prove the kinship of the father and the child, which establishes his obligation to properly support her.

After the court satisfies the claim, the person must contact the representatives of the state executive service, since they are the ones who have the right to deal with the execution of the decision of the judicial authority regarding the payment of alimony payments.

It is necessary to send an executive letter (which the person previously receives in court) to the executive service, and then it will begin to directly execute the decision of the judicial authority.

Measures of influence that the executive service can apply to the debtor:

1. Bringing a person to administrative responsibility under Art. 183-1 of the Labor Code of Ukraine. It is the executive service that has the authority to draw up a report under this article if a person does not pay alimony payments for 6 months, and in some cases for 3 months (if the child has serious diseases related to the disruption of the nervous system, incurable mental disorders, diabetes, oncology, etc.). After drawing up the protocol, the representatives of the executive service send it for consideration to the judicial authority at the location of the executive service.
2. Application of fines. If the debtor does not pay alimony for a long period, then the enforcement service has the right to apply fines to such a person. If arrears on alimony for 1 year - a fine of 20% of the amount of alimony payments, if arrears for 2 years - a fine of 30%, if arrears for 3 years - a fine of 50%. In addition, the amounts of such fines are transferred directly to the recipient of alimony.
3. Restrictive measures. The Executive Service also has the right to impose the following restrictive measures on a person who has alimony arrears for more than 4 months, namely:

• temporary ban on travel to foreign countries;
• temporary ban on the right to drive vehicles;
• temporary ban on the right to use various types of weapons (hunting, pneumatic, etc.);
• temporary ban on hunting.

At the same time, such restrictions can be removed from the debtor only when he fully repays the debt for the payment of alimony payments.

If the influence measures do not affect the debtor in any way, then it is also possible to bring him to civil and criminal liability for non-payment of alimony.

Civil liability provides for the collection of a penalty (penalty) from the debtor in the amount of 1% of the amount of unpaid alimony payments for each day of delay in payment of alimony until the moment of their full repayment.

But at the same time, if the debtor has a difficult financial situation, then the judicial authority can reduce the amount of the fine imposed.

Criminal liability occurs for the alimony debtor only when he maliciously evades the payment of mandatory payments.

Malicious evasion should be understood as any actions aimed at concealing a person's real income. For example, a person has a lot of wealth, and provides evidence to the court that he is unemployed. For such actions, a person may be prosecuted under Art. 164 of the CCU.

Conclusions

Thus, there are quite a few ways to force a person to pay alimony payments on time in practice.

But all of them require proper legal justification and the active participation of the debt collector.Therefore, in order to increase your chances of collecting alimony arrears, the best solution would be to turn to the specialists of the Prikhodko and Partners law firm.

Our lawyers have many years of practical experience in the field family law of Ukraine, which allows them to understand all the legal features of any legal issues in this area and find optimal solutions for the company's clients.

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