Conditions for receiving MK for a second child
The social program for the payment of maternity capital is one of the forms of state support for families who decide to have more than one child. The goal of this program is to solve the problem of the demographic crisis, which most clearly manifested itself in the early 2000s. At this time, the country's population was declining annually by 800-900 thousand people, and many analysts considered this trend catastrophic.
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The main reason for the decline in the birth rate in the Russian Federation was recognized as a financial problem. Many families did not want to have a second child due to low incomes and high costs of raising and educating children. In order to partially solve this problem, it was decided at the government level to assign subsidy payments to those families in whose care a second child appears. On January 1, 2007, the corresponding law No. 256 came into force.
It provides a clear list of mandatory conditions necessary for the accrual of maternity capital, as well as a list of persons entitled to receive it. Any family where at least one parent has Russian citizenship and both children are also citizens of the Russian Federation can take advantage of the social state program. If the parents are foreign nationals, then Pension Fund employees will simply not accept their application for a cash certificate.
If the first child is registered as a citizen of another country, then it will also not be possible to receive a payment when a second child appears in the family. Even if the newborn is registered as a citizen of the Russian Federation, he will de jure be considered the first child in the family to claim any social benefits from the Russian budget. It will not be possible to receive maternity capital under Federal Law No. 256 (as for the 2nd child).
The next mandatory condition is that the second child must appear as a dependent of the family no earlier than the moment the law on maternity capital comes into force. If it concerns an adopted child, then the date of his birth does not matter - as long as he is a minor. It is important here that the official adoption occurs after January 1, 2007.
The following persons have the right to receive maternity money, according to the law on maternity capital:
- A Russian citizen who gave birth to her second child. If, after the birth of the second baby, a woman for some reason does not take advantage of her right to receive a subsidy, then the opportunity to register capital passes to the next baby.
- A citizen of the Russian Federation who adopted a child who became the second in her family. It doesn’t matter whether a woman’s first child is her own or adopted.
- The natural father or adoptive parent of the child has the right to receive maternity benefits for the 2nd child when the mother or adoptive parent has lost such a right.
- If children are deprived of the guardianship of both parents due to their death or deprivation of parental rights, then the right to maternal capital passes to them. In this case, the management of money is delegated to their official guardian or adoptive parent. Supervision over the spending of maternity capital by the guardian is carried out by local guardianship authorities.
To confirm a person’s legal right to receive maternity money, Pension Fund employees issue him a corresponding certificate. In accordance with this official document, when the second child reaches the age of three, he will be able to exercise the right to receive money.
The right to subsidy payments from the Pension Fund for the birth (adoption) of a 2nd child is granted only once. At the birth of the third baby, maternity capital is not paid from the state budget. In some regions, additional payments are established for subsequent children, but all of them are local in nature.
Where to get money for maternity capital
Innovations in the law on maternity capital have affected the list of creditors working with certificates received by new parents.
The circle was narrowed down to the most reliable ones, which included:
- banks that have received a license to issue mortgage loans;
- consumer cooperatives operating in the housing market for more than 3 years, engaged in lending to the population;
- financial organizations providing mortgage loans, if their activities do not contradict Article 10 of Law No. 256.
Microfinance organizations (MFOs) have been denied access to maternity capital. According to legislators, the crisis that has befallen the Russian Federation will not allow the borrower to cope with the prevailing interest rates there. In addition, experience shows that in Russia the age of MFOs is short-lived.
By taking measures to exclude a number of financial organizations, the state is trying to protect citizens from the unexpected bankruptcy of a credit institution. If you took out a mortgage from an MFO before March 8, 2015, there is no need to worry about the loss of maternity capital. The money will be paid in the form prescribed by law.
You cannot force a person to read the federal law on maternal capital. Legal literature is difficult to study, and laziness does not allow you to tear yourself away from the TV. However, half a million is at stake, and losing that kind of money or getting into trouble with law enforcement agencies in addition is pure madness. It would also be useful to study regional legislation.
MK size for a second child
The initial amount of funds accrued from the state budget for the birth of the second baby was 250 thousand rubles. But since 2008, regular indexation of payments has been taking place. This was due to high inflation in the country during the economic crisis of 2008-09. In order to prevent a decrease in the actual size of maternity capital, indexation was carried out in accordance with inflation indicators for the previous year. But even after the end of the 2008-09 crisis, indexations were carried out regularly, until 2015.
By this time, the amount of payments for the birth of a second child amounted to 453 thousand rubles. In connection with the outbreak in the country in 2014. Due to the acute financial and economic crisis, there were no opportunities for further increasing the amount of maternal capital. Some government financiers even raised the question of temporarily stopping payments. However, the president did not support this idea, ordering to find funds to continue this social program. But annual indexations had to be frozen indefinitely. In 2021, indexation of payments is also not provided, so their amount will be the same 453 thousand rubles as four years ago.
How to register an MK for a second child
To register the right to maternity capital, you will need to provide a certain set of documents. The entire registration procedure consists of several stages.
Stages of registration
The sequence of actions for parents of the 2nd newborn to obtain a certificate is as follows:
- The registry office obtains a certificate for a newborn or adopted baby.
- In the territorial department of the PVS under the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, Russian citizenship of a newborn is issued. Previously, before its abolition, this role was played by the FMS.
- An application for a certificate, along with all the required documents, is submitted to the Pension Fund branch at the place of registration of the baby’s mother.
- Within a month, PFR employees, based on the results of consideration of the application, make either a positive or negative decision. The applicant is notified of the decision in writing.
- If the decision is positive, the applicant should come with a passport to the Pension Fund office to receive a certificate.
Not only parents, but also their official representatives can handle the paperwork. To do this, you will need to issue a notarized power of attorney to transfer the rights to collect and submit the necessary documents to a third party. It can be either a professional lawyer or just one of the relatives. The certificate will need to be received personally by the person in whose name it is issued - the representative does not have the right to sign this document even with a power of attorney.
Required documents
An application of a standard form is submitted to the Pension Fund of Russia, the form of which can be found on the official website of the pension fund, or directly at the institution. Along with the application, you must submit a set of the following documents:
- General civil Russian passport of the applicant.
- Documents from the registry office about the birth of both the second child and previous children.
- If the applicant for a certificate does not have permanent registration, you must present a document with temporary registration.
- When receiving subsidy payments for adopted children, you must attach a document on adoption to your application.
- A SNILS pension plastic card with a personal account number in the Pension Fund.
You can submit an application to the Pension Fund by personally visiting the fund’s office, through the MFC, or through the online portal “State Services”.
Receipt times
Regulatory acts establish certain deadlines during which the applicant’s application for a certificate must be considered by employees of the Pension Fund. A calendar month is allotted for this. In exceptional cases, when it is necessary to additionally establish the authenticity of the submitted papers, or when the package of documents is not fully completed, these deadlines may be extended by order of the head of the local PFR office.
Within the allotted month, fund employees make a decision on whether to grant the application or to refuse it. Any refusal must be motivated and issued in writing. In case of disagreement with the decision of the fund’s employees, the citizen’s parents have the right to appeal it in the judicial authorities.
In what cases can MK pass to the child’s father?
In some cases, the right to maternity capital is given to a man - the father or adoptive parent of a second child. This occurs when the mother or adoptive parent loses such a right. For example, a woman died, was deprived of parental rights by a court decision, declared missing, completely incompetent or partially incompetent. In these situations, the right to receive maternity benefits passes to her spouse. It makes no difference whether a man has Russian citizenship or is a citizen of another country.
How did pension reform affect the law on maternity capital?
After the release of Law No. 400, regulating the payment of pensions to citizens, the government issued Law No. 214 on July 21, 2014. Due to this, the conditions for obtaining maternity capital described in legislative act No. 256 were adjusted accordingly.
The remaining changes can be called cosmetic. They did not give the document new meaning. Legislators only changed the names of legal terms. For example, they began to call the funded pension that part of it that was previously one of the components of the labor pension.
Important points for citizens who have become parents were not touched upon: the package of documents for obtaining a maternal certificate is the same as the procedure for considering an application submitted to the Pension Fund. True, this only applies to cases when the funds received are used to form the mother’s pension savings.
How can you use MK for a second child under 3 years old?
According to the provisions of the law on maternity capital, it is possible to receive payments under the certificate only after the child reaches the age of three. However, subsequently some changes and additions were made to the normative act. In particular, they allowed, as an exception, to receive part of the due maternity capital ahead of schedule.
In 2015-16, a resolution was adopted on a one-time payment of 25 thousand rubles towards the certificate to some families. Families whose income level was below the subsistence level could apply for such payments before the end of the three-year period. This amount could only be received once a year, and after 2021. such preferences for the poor were abolished. Today, parents of their second child can use the certificate ahead of schedule for the following purposes:
- Paying off mortgage debt.
- To pay the initial mortgage payment.
- To purchase a plot of land or building materials for building a house.
That is, maternity capital can be spent ahead of schedule exclusively on improving the family’s living conditions.
What documents will be required when building housing using maternity capital funds?
This is described in Article 24 of Law No. 171, adopted on June 24, 2014. Therefore, amendments were made to the law on maternity capital, changing the composition of the package of documents for building your own home with the participation of maternity capital funds. The reason was the new edition of the Land Code, as a result of which the mention of free urgent use of land disappeared from it.
Free use of the site is still possible, but the urgency will have to be forgotten. In the new edition, mention of it was removed. The concepts of unlimited time use of a plot and its inheritance for life have also been removed. In the law applied for the issuance of maternity capital, these provisions are reflected in Article 10.
How can you use MK for a second child after 3 years of age?
The range of purposes for which mother’s money is allowed to be spent when children reach the age of three is somewhat wider. This includes:
- Obtaining paid education.
- Improving family living conditions.
- The funded part of the future pension of the mother of the children.
- Adaptation and treatment of a disabled child.
Elena Smirnova
Pension lawyer, ready to answer your questions.
Ask me a question
Funds under the maternity certificate are not issued in cash. All payments are made directly from the Pension Fund account to the supplier of goods or services. For example, to the owner of the purchased house or to the account of an educational institution.
Education of any of the children
Any child can take advantage of a subsidy for education, not just the one for whom the money was given. Paid education means commercial education at a university, additional education at school or outside it. These are paid sports sections, educational children's clubs and electives, visiting a paid kindergarten, hiring tutors.
Improving living conditions
The family has the right to spend maternal capital on repairing or expanding the existing living space. It can be used as a down payment on a mortgage when purchasing a home or land. You can also use this money to pay for building materials and services of a construction company.
Increasing the funded part of the pension
At the request of the recipient of the capital, it can be sent to the accumulation part of the pension fund. You can transfer either the entire amount of maternity capital or a certain part of it towards your pension. If a woman suddenly changes her mind and wants to spend the money on other needs - for example, buying a house - the Pension Fund will return her the entire invested amount.
Social and medical adaptation of disabled children
Several years ago, amendments were made to Federal Law No. 256, which made it possible to spend maternal money for another purpose - the treatment and adaptation of disabled children. From now on, it is allowed to purchase means of transportation and life activities for a disabled minor - strollers, crutches, prostheses, etc. from the funds of the fund. Also, mother’s money can be used to pay for medications and medical procedures prescribed by the attending physician.
