When we hear the word alimony, we usually immediately think of child support after a divorce. But in Ukrainian legislation, alimony obligations are not limited only to parents and children. Is the son obliged to support the sick mother? Does the grandmother have the right to alimony from the grandson? Is it possible to collect support for an ex-husband or wife if one of them has lost their ability to work? These questions sound strange only at first glance. In fact, they are quite real and legally regulated.
The editors of IA “FAKT” turned to lawyers to find out: who has the right to alimony in a Ukrainian family, what conditions are established by the law, what the procedure for applying to court looks like and in which cases it is possible to terminate the obligation to support a relative. Experts explained what the law actually provides and how to protect your rights in difficult family situations.
Family members are bound together by blood relations, legal seals, and rights and responsibilities. Child support is the first thing a woman thinks about during a divorce. Depriving parents of parental rights who do not care about their own children, women also take care that in the future, in old age, such a father does not come for child support for his own benefit. Therefore, all these duties are well known and citizens actively use the provided opportunities. But the Family Code (SC) of Ukraine contains little-known norms that may come as a surprise to many. It turns out that other family members are bound by the law to maintain alimony obligations.
In accordance with the current legislation, the following obligations are stipulated:
It is the duty of grandmothers and grandfathers to support their grandchildren. Grandparents are obliged to maintain their minor, minor grandchildren if they do not have a mother or father or if the parents cannot provide them with proper support for valid reasons, provided that the grandmother or grandfather can provide financial assistance.
The duty of grandchildren, great-grandchildren to support grandmother, grandfather, great-grandmother, great-grandfather. Adult grandchildren, great-grandchildren are obliged to support disabled grandmother, grandfather, great-grandmother, great-grandfather, who are in need of financial assistance and if they do not have a husband, wife, adult daughter, son, or these persons for good reasons cannot provide them with adequate maintenance, provided that adult grandchildren, great-grandchildren can provide financial assistance.
Duty to support brothers and sisters. Adult brothers and sisters are obliged to support minor, minor brothers and sisters who need financial support and if they do not have parents, husband, wife or these persons cannot provide them with adequate support for good reasons, provided that adult brothers and sisters can provide financial support. Adult brothers and sisters are also obliged to support disabled adult brothers and sisters who need financial assistance, if they do not have a husband, wife, parents or adult daughters, sons, provided that adult brothers and sisters can provide financial assistance.
Duty of stepmother, stepfather to support stepdaughter, stepson. Stepmothers and stepfathers are obliged to support minors, minor stepdaughters, stepsons who live with them, if they do not have a mother, father, grandfather, grandmother, adult brothers and sisters, or these persons cannot provide them with proper maintenance for valid reasons, provided that the stepmother, stepfather can provide financial assistance.
The court can release the stepfather, stepmother from the obligation to support the stepdaughter, stepson or limit it to a certain period, in particular in the case of:
1) short-term residence with their mother, father;
2) inappropriate behavior in the marital relationship of the child’s mother and father.
The duty of other persons to support the child. Persons in whose family a child was brought up are obliged to provide him with financial assistance, if he does not have parents, grandmother, grandfather, adult brothers and sisters, provided that these persons can provide financial assistance.
Duty of stepdaughter, stepson to support stepmother, stepfather. Adult stepdaughters and stepsons are obliged to support disabled stepmothers and stepfathers if they need financial assistance and if they have provided systematic financial assistance to the stepdaughter or stepson for at least five years, provided that the stepdaughter or stepson can provide financial assistance. The duty of a stepdaughter, stepson to maintain a stepmother, stepfather arises if the stepmother, stepfather does not have a husband, wife, adult daughter, son, brothers and sisters, or if these persons cannot provide them with adequate maintenance for valid reasons.
The duty of a person to support those with whom he lived in the same family until reaching the age of majority. If a person lived with relatives or other persons in the same family before reaching the age of majority, he is obliged to support disabled relatives and other persons with whom he lived for at least five years, provided that this person can provide financial assistance. This obligation arises if the person in need of financial assistance does not have a wife, husband, adult daughter, son, brothers and sisters, or these persons cannot provide them with adequate support for valid reasons.
Based on the above, alimony can be collected from almost any family member! Analysis of court practice shows that there are very few decisions on the collection of such alimony compared to “classic” options. Considering the standard of living of the majority of the population, it is not that there are no people who would be hindered by extra funds, but that citizens do not know about their rights and the mechanisms for their implementation.
The amount of alimony collected from other family members and relatives for children and disabled adults in need of financial assistance is determined as a share of earnings (income) or in a fixed monetary amount. Here, as we can see, the same approach is used as for child support.
When determining the amount of alimony, the court takes into account the financial and family status of the payer and recipient of alimony. But the main thing that distinguishes this from alimony is that if the lawsuit is not brought against all obligated persons, but only against some of them, the amount of alimony is determined taking into account the obligation of all obligated persons to provide maintenance. At the same time, the total amount of alimony payable per child must be necessary and sufficient to ensure the harmonious development of the child and cannot be less than 50 percent of the subsistence minimum for a child of the appropriate age. Therefore, the court must find out which other relatives there are, what their financial and health status is, and to what extent they are able to pay alimony for the maintenance of a child or another family member. Let’s immediately note that there is no single database that would definitely give out the entire family tree. Having certain data, it is possible to poke around the registers of the RATS for quite a long time and find something. But the court is not connected to the RAC registers, will not check them, and therefore sometimes it makes sense to keep quiet about the presence of certain relatives in the court.
The minimum recommended total amount of alimony payable from other family members and relatives per child is the subsistence minimum for a child of the appropriate age and may be awarded by the court in case of sufficient earnings (income) of the alimony payer.
The Government of Ukraine has established the following levels of the subsistence minimum for 2025 for children:
- up to 6 years – UAH 2,563
- from 6 to 18 years – UAH 3,196.
The court can collect alimony both indefinitely, and specify a certain period for which alimony is collected: when the child reaches the age of majority, three years, etc.
Note that a change in the amount of alimony from other family members and relatives and exemption from their payment is provided for in the following cases (non-exhaustive list):
- if the financial or family status of the person paying alimony or the person receiving it has changed, the court may change the established amount of alimony or exempt it from payment at the request of any of them;
- in the presence of other significant circumstances. This item does not apply to grandchildren, great-grandchildren as far as grandmother, grandfather, great-grandmother, great-grandfather is concerned.
Therefore, the court will carefully consider each individual alimony claim, deciding how much this or that person is obliged to support another family member and in what amount.
It should also be noted that there is a choice for submitting a claim to the court regarding the collection of alimony – such a claim can be filed as a choice:
- at the registered place of residence of the plaintiff;
- at the defendant’s registered place of residence.
When preparing for this case, you should understand certain difficulties that you will have to face. The fact is that the court needs to provide a complete package of documents, which must necessarily include a family/family relationship. Partially different birth, marriage, etc. certificates are usually available. But we are also talking about other family members, the documents on which, of course, will not be available to the plaintiff. In this case, the person must apply in writing to the RAC department and, indicating the maximum known (or tentatively known) dates, ask to provide extracts from official records of birth, marriage, divorce, etc.
If according to the law it is possible to issue a relevant extract, the RACS department will do so. If the act record is available, but you do not have the right to receive an extract from it, then together with the claim, you will need to submit a petition for the demand of evidence to the court, with which you will ask the court to demand from the RATS department the corresponding extract from the act record, which you will need to prove the family relationship.
If, for any reason, the required act record is not available at all (destroyed, lost, it is not known where to look for it at all), and you cannot confirm your family relationship with documents in any way, then at the same time, in the claim for the recovery of alimony, you must make a demand to establish the fact of family relations, for example: to establish the fact that Natalya Maksimivna Petrenko is the sister of Pyotr Ivanovych Sydorenko. In such a case, in addition to the evidence related to the demand for the recovery of alimony, it is necessary to provide the maximum available evidence that would confirm the marital status, including a request for the court to interrogate witnesses.
According to Art. 5 of the Law of Ukraine “On Court Fees” plaintiffs are exempted from payment of the court fee in a claim for the collection of alimony. But if the second requirement is to establish the fact of family relations, then the court fee will amount to UAH 605.60
If the person from whom alimony has been collected refuses to pay it voluntarily, it is necessary to obtain an executive letter from the court and submit it to the executive service for implementation. In the future, the same procedure applies to the collection of alimony as for “classic” ones.
It is worth knowing that alimony can be collected under the writ of execution for the past time, but not more than ten years preceding the presentation of the writ of execution for execution. If alimony was not charged according to the enforcement letter presented for execution in connection with the search for the alimony payer or in connection with his stay abroad, they must be paid for the entire past time.
Arrears for alimony awarded as a share of earnings (income) are determined based on the actual earnings (income) received by the payer of alimony during the time during which their collection was not carried out, regardless of whether such earnings (income) were received in Ukraine or abroad. The alimony arrears of the alimony payer who did not work at the time of the arrears or who is an individual entrepreneur and is on the simplified taxation system, or who is a citizen of Ukraine who receives earnings (income) in a state with which Ukraine does not have a legal aid agreement, is determined based on the average salary of an employee for a given area.
At the same time, in case of arrears due to the fault of a person who is obliged to pay alimony by a court decision or by agreement between the parents, the recipient of alimony has the right to collect a penalty (penalty) in the amount of one percent of the amount of unpaid alimony for each day of delay from the day the alimony payment is overdue until the day of its full repayment or until the day the court passes a decision on the collection of a penalty, but not more than 100 percent debts The amount of the penalty may be reduced by the court, taking into account the financial and family status of the alimony payer.
Taking into account the financial and family status of the alimony payer, the court may delay or postpone the payment of alimony arrears. At the request of the payer of alimony, the court may fully or partially release him from the payment of alimony arrears, if it arose in connection with his serious illness or another circumstance of significant importance.
In general, we advise you to actively use the opportunities provided by law, because nothing strengthens a family like money invested in it.
