Ombudsman for Children's Rights: "Non-payment of alimony is due to an unhealthy head"

Maria Dubinskaya

In December 2021, the State Duma amended Article 5.35(1) of the Code of Administrative Offenses. These adjustments, according to the legislators, should eliminate the ambiguity in law enforcement practice, which allows debtors to avoid liability in the event of partial payment of alimony for the maintenance of children and disabled parents.

Recall: earlier, in cases where alimony debtors repaid even a very small part of the debt, it was believed that they did not evade their alimony obligations. Now that loophole in the law is gone.

“The government proposed to recognize as non-payment non-payment without good reason in violation of a court decision or a notarized agreement within two or more months from the date of initiation of enforcement proceedings in the amount established by the court decision or agreement,” Interfax reported.

As punishment for non-payment of alimony in full, the law introduced such sanctions as compulsory work for up to 150 hours or administrative arrest for a period of 10 to 15 days or the imposition of an administrative fine in the amount of 20 thousand rubles.

The Commissioner for Children's Rights in Moscow commented on the current situation as follows:

“In response to a request from the Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights in Moscow, the Main Directorate of the Federal Bailiff Service shared with us the following information.

Last year, there were 34,185 proceedings for the recovery of maintenance payments in Moscow, which is 1,167 more than in 2020. At the same time, 2,424 enforcement proceedings ended in actual execution for 12 months of 2021. 2,576 decisions were made to put a debtor-citizen on the wanted list, 2,313 administrative cases and 532 criminal cases were initiated.

Why don't people pay child support? Why does a person disregard his own child, in fact, deliberately harming him? Questions without clear answers. And the problem is the worst!

What is the payment of alimony: first of all, it is ensuring the safety of the child. Because the quality of his life directly depends on this - these are other food, other clothes, another education ...

It's one thing when a mother provides for a child only with her own money, and it's a completely different story when dad takes part - and the amount already doubles.

I can say that the current legislative framework is quite enough for people to be able to agree on alimony in a civilized way. But, alas, situations can be very dramatic, and both sides are good.

And all this is directly related to a very painful issue - the alienation of children. One of the biggest problems in the work of the children's ombudsman... When one of the parties declares that he will not comply with the court decision and will not "give you a child because you do not pay alimony", and in response he hears that "and then I will not You have to pay alimony if you don't give me a child! And it turns out a vicious circle.

Listen, your child is suffering! And in that case, and in another. And your child really needs his life to be as well-established, dignified, calm, comfortable, safe ...

What happens, why are there so many non-payers of alimony? All because of a headache! I just can't say otherwise. Our society is sick, very unhealthy, if we treat our own children like this!

But now we have, look, what a wave of patriotism, compassion, mercy... Families are actively adopting and adopting children from the Donbass, taking these other people's children under gratuitous care to help them cope with grief, surround them with care and warmth, make them family ... And someone does not want to pay a penny to his own children! The world just turned upside down...

I am very worried why people do not know how, do not want to negotiate with each other, because all these parted couples were once close people. Why do they come to court without an agreement? Parents can agree on all the nuances even before the court, and come to court, already understanding what are the obligations of each of them to the child!

But often it turns out that parents do not agree. And then, getting a court decision - and this is the law! - ignore him. That is, it is necessary to discuss also disrespect for the court and the decision of the state. My deep conviction is that a person who wants to break the law and hide from the payment of alimony, of course, risks, but he can do it; and now, just because of not giving money to his own child for maintenance, he turns his life into a real hell.

There is a state court, and there is also a court of conscience. It may be naive, but I still want to believe that we will someday live to see a time when we will not even discuss this wild topic. Healing is bound to come someday."