Unfortunately, with the outbreak of hostilities and the introduction of the military on the territory of Ukraine, there is a negative trend in divorce. For example, according to the Civil Registry Offices of the Ministry of Justice, 17,893 divorce records were registered in 2022, and 24,108 in 2023, and these statistics are only according to the Civil Registry Office, and let’s not forget that there are also court cases, and after receiving a court decision, most people are in no hurry to enter (change) information in the Civil Registry Office, so the actual number of divorces is much higher.
After a divorce, one of the parents with whom the child lives goes to court to claim alimony, and we will talk about this.
Article 180 of the Family Code of Ukraine stipulates that parents are obliged to support their children until they reach the age of majority.
According to Art. 150 of the Family Code of Ukraine, parents are obliged to bring up a child in a spirit of respect for the rights and freedoms of others, love for their family and family, their people, their homeland. Parents are obliged to take care of their child’s health, physical, spiritual and moral development. Parents are obliged to ensure that their children receive a complete general secondary education and prepare them for independent living. Parents are obliged to respect their children. The transfer of a child for upbringing to other persons does not release parents from the obligation of parental care for the child. Any kind of exploitation by parents of their children is prohibited. Physical punishment of a child by parents, as well as the use of other types of punishment that degrade the child’s human dignity, are prohibited.
“Parents, do not forget to fulfill your responsibilities and participate in the proper upbringing of your children!”
The law establishes two ways for parents to fulfill their obligation to support their children, namely: by agreement between the parties (voluntary) or by court order (compulsory).
Parents may independently determine the procedure and form of providing maintenance to minor children, including by entering into a child support agreement, which shall specify the amount and terms of payment of child support, and the terms of the agreement may not violate the rights of the child, in accordance with Article 189 of the Family Code of Ukraine. The agreement shall be concluded in writing and notarized. The execution of such an agreement often eliminates the possibility of misunderstandings (conflicts) between the child’s parents regarding the recovery of alimony, reduces the costs of the parties associated with litigation and enforcement of the enforcement document through the state executive service, and saves time and nerves. A child support agreement is concluded both during and after a marriage. Separately, we note that if one of the parents fails to fulfill his or her obligation under the agreement, child support may be collected from him or her on the basis of an executive inscription by a notary.
By court decision, alimony may be awarded as a share of the earnings (income) of one of the parents or in a fixed amount of money.
So what to do when a court decision has been obtained and one of the parents still fails to pay child support?
In this case, you should, firstly, obtain an enforcement document from the court, and secondly, file an application with the relevant department of the State Enforcement Service to enforce the court decision and initiate enforcement proceedings.
According to part. 1 Art. 24 of the Law of Ukraine “On Enforcement Proceedings”enforcement actions are carried out by the state enforcement officer at the place of residence, stay, work of the debtor or at the location of his property.
After the enforcement proceedings are initiated, the enforcement officer is obliged to calculate the amount of child support arrears and send it to the parties to the enforcement proceedings together with the resolution.
No later than the next business day after the date of commencement of the enforcement proceedings, the state enforcement officer sends inquiries to the Pension Fund of Ukraine and the State Tax Service of Ukraine to establish information about the debtor’s place of work and other sources of income. If it is established that the debtor receives income, the state enforcement officer issues a resolution to levy a charge on the debtor’s salary, pension, scholarship and other income and, no later than the next business day, sends the resolution for execution to the accounting department of the relevant enterprise, institution or organization, regardless of ownership.
The law also provides for a list of measures to be taken by the state enforcement officer if the debtor is in arrears on alimony for three months, namely:
- entering information about the debtor into the Unified Register of Debtors, a relevant database maintained to publish real-time information on outstanding property obligations of debtors and prevent alienation of property by debtors;
- foreclosure on the debtor’s property (movable and immovable property) by seizing the property, withdrawing it and selling it.
If there is a four (4) month child support arrears, the state enforcement officer issues a reasoned decision:
- On the establishment of a temporary restriction on the debtor’s right to travel outside Ukraine – until the debt on alimony is paid in full;
- On the establishment of a temporary restriction on the debtor’s right to drive vehicles – until the child support debt is paid in full;
- On the establishment of a temporary restriction on the debtor’s right to use firearms for hunting, pneumatic and bladed weapons, devices of domestic production for firing cartridges equipped with rubber or similar non-lethal projectiles – until the debt on child support is paid in full;
- On the establishment of a temporary restriction on the debtor’s right to hunt – until the debt on alimony is paid in full.
If the debtor’s actions have signs of an administrative offense under Article 183-1 of the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses (alimony arrears of more than six months), the state enforcement officer must draw up a report on the administrative offense and send it to the court for consideration.
The sanction of this article provides for community service for a period of one hundred and twenty to two hundred and forty hours. And repeated commission of the offense within a year entails performing community service for a period of two hundred and forty to three hundred and sixty hours.
In addition, if there is an alimony arrears exceeding the amount of the respective payments for one year, the debtor is subject to a fine of 20 percent of the amount of the alimony arrears. If the arrears of alimony exceed the amount of the respective payments for two years, the debtor is subject to a fine of 30 percent of the amount of the arrears of alimony. In the case of arrears for three years, 50 percent of the amount owed. The amounts of fines collected are transferred to the collector.
The enforcer has the right to apply to the pre-trial investigation authorities with a statement about the commission of a criminal offense by the debtor (Article 164 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine), which consists in his/her evasion of alimony.
The law also provides for a certain list of measures to be taken by the state enforcement officer if the enforcement of the alimony decision is not secured by levying a charge on the debtor’s wages and other income.
Thus, if the debtor maliciously evades the payment of alimony, fails to appear at the calls of the state enforcement officer without good reason, the state enforcement officer has the right to file a relevant application with the court to obtain a ruling on the debtor’s summons, which is carried out by the National Police of Ukraine. In the absence of information about the debtor’s place of residence or stay, the state enforcement officer has the right to apply to the court for a search for the debtor in order to obtain a relevant ruling. Enforcement officers have access to the Civil Registry, where they can check or obtain information about the debtor. Interaction between the automated system of enforcement proceedings and financial (banking) institutions facilitates the rapid exchange of documents, which ultimately allows for the seizure of the debtor’s open accounts and the write-off of funds in favor of the creditor.
The draft law “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine on Certain Issues of Military Service, Mobilization and Military Registration” No. 10449 of 30.01.2024 may amend Art. 23 of the Law of Ukraine “On Mobilization Preparation and Mobilization”, namely: women and men with three or more children under the age of 18, except for those who have child support arrears exceeding the total amount of the respective payments for three months, will not be subject to conscription.
However, despite the fact that the state has significantly increased liability for alimony debtors, which entails negative consequences, as of April 2024, the Unified Register of Debtors contains 187,643 entries on the number of debtors in arrears.
In the future, we will expand and disclose the issues of alimony recovery, rights and obligations of the parties, so follow our publications and like our articles. If you need legal assistance, please contact Repeshko & Partners Law Firm, where qualified specialists will help you overcome the difficulties of exercising your rights and, of course, fulfilling your obligations.
We wrote about other issues related to the recovery of alimony earlier, read here.
