How to collect and file for alimony if the husband does not officially work

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Mothers literally give up when they have to seek child support from an unemployed father. Many people think that this is impossible. However, the law is on the side of mothers who raise children themselves, and even if fathers do not work, the obligation to support their children is not removed from them.

This provision is contained in Art. 80 of the RF IC: parents must support their children regardless of their labor status. In addition, the law provides for a procedure for collecting child support, which also applies to unemployed parents.

In this article we will look at what mothers should do if fathers do not work.

Obligation to provide financial support for the child

The responsibility for providing financial support for the child lies equally with each parent. And even if one of them, for some reason, lives separately from his child, he must still allocate time to communicate with his child, take part in his upbringing, resolve issues related to his education and development, and also allocate funds for his maintenance, that is, to pay alimony.

How is alimony established after a divorce if the ex-husband does not work?

The amount of alimony, the procedure and timing of its payment can be determined both on the basis of an agreement (contract) concluded between the child’s parents and on the basis of a court decision.

In the first case, the amount of alimony is determined by mutual agreement of the parties. If the spouse does not work, he can offer to pay alimony in a fixed amount, paid once or at a certain frequency, or transfer property for alimony, for example, his car or apartment. In order for the agreement to have legal force, it must be notarized.

In the second case, the decision to assign alimony, its amount, as well as the procedure and methods of payment is made by the court, taking into account the financial situation of the parties, their state of health, obligations in relation to other disabled family members and other factors that deserve attention.

Alimony for a citizen who does not have a stable income is assigned by the court in a fixed amount.

Methods for collecting alimony from a non-working husband

Russian legislation provides only two methods for collecting alimony, which are also applicable in case of unemployment of the father:

1. Negotiable
2. Judicial.

According to Art. 80 of the RF IC, the father and mother can independently agree on the procedure and amount of payment of funds for the needs of the child. Perhaps the father is ready to provide all possible assistance to the child, without attracting the attention of the court and executive services to his lifestyle and nature of employment. Agreements between parents are set out in the form of a document - a child support agreement, which is signed by the mother and father and must be certified by a notary.

If an agreement is not reached or is violated, one of the parents has the right to file a claim, prepare documents and go to court (Clause 2 of Article 80 of the RF IC).

Is it possible to apply for child support if the father does not officially work?

One of the problems that alimony collectors face is the lack of official income from the alimony payer. This same circumstance often becomes the reason why a claimant refuses to file a claim in court, because it is believed that nothing will be obtained from such a payer anyway.

But it is not so. It all depends on the reasons why the child’s father does not have an official income, as well as on other factors, such as whether the alimony payer has other income or property, and so on. Let's look at these reasons and factors in more detail.

How to apply for alimony in a fixed amount if the husband does not work?

To assign alimony payments, the alimony claimant must file a claim in court.

The statement of claim must contain the following information:

1. The district and precinct of the magistrate's court in which it is filed;
2. Information about the plaintiff (full name, address, telephone);
3. Information about the defendant (full name, address, telephone);
4. Information about the child or children for whom child support is required;
5. Other information that must be provided based on the specifics of a particular case.

The claim should be accompanied by an approximate calculation of the funds the child needs per month, including expenses for food, medicine, personal hygiene products, purchase of clothing, payment for kindergarten and other expenses required by the child, based on his age, health status and other characteristics.

Since parents are obliged to bear all expenses for the child in equal shares, then, unless the mother has valid reasons why she cannot earn money for the child on her own, the calculated amount should be divided in half. This will be the amount of alimony in a fixed amount declared by the plaintiff.

However, when making a decision, the court will also take into account the opinion of the second party and his financial and marital status, as well as his state of health.

The statement of claim must be accompanied by documents confirming the facts stated in the claim, as well as:

• A copy of the plaintiff's passport;
• Copies of children's birth certificates;
• Other documents required based on the specifics of a particular case.

The claim should be filed in the magistrate's court at the place of residence of the alimony payer. You can send documents by mail or submit them directly to the court office. To participate in the trial, the plaintiff has the right to attract a representative who can perform the powers assigned to him on the basis of a power of attorney issued by the plaintiff.

How is the amount determined?

If the parents are able to find a compromise on the issue of providing for their ward, a settlement agreement is concluded on the amount and procedure for payment by mutual agreement. However, maintaining mutual understanding and readiness for dialogue during a divorce can be difficult.

As a result, the parent with whom the child remains is left with the only way to collect alimony - it is necessary to apply to the magistrate's court with an application to establish the collection.

For non-working citizens, the practice has developed of determining the amount of alimony according to the minimum wage of the region in which the child lives. The court proceeds from the fact that both parents are obliged to contribute to the process of raising, developing, and maintaining the child. An important detail that determines the method of calculating alimony will be the availability of identified income of the citizen.

For example, when receiving a stable transfer from the state, they are often inclined to favor recovery as a share of the established income. The court makes the final decision after considering the documents presented at the meeting on the income of both parents and the current needs of the minor.[/su_box] The approval of alimony in a fixed value is directly tied to the minimum subsistence level, but is not always calculated in 1 or 2 times the monthly minimum. The court, taking into account the financial situation of the defendant and the solvency of the mother, often determines alimony in the form of ½ or 1/3 of the monthly minimum in the region. Based on the principle that both parents have equal obligations towards the ward.

Through the court from someone working unofficially

The ex-spouse's opposition to or refusal to participate financially in the child's life is often resolved in court. If there is no information about the employer, or it is not possible to confirm official employment, the plaintiff will have to make efforts to find documentary evidence of how much the husband should pay without official work. The more extensive the evidence base, the easier it is for the court to make the right decision.

A non-working person may have other income, for example, from renting an apartment or pension contributions. When collecting information about the defendant, interaction will be required with various structures - the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation, the tax authorities, the employer who refuses to enroll the employee on the staff. The court will take into account any evidence that allows you to establish the true position of the defendant, including statements of the assigned pension or benefit, information about part-time jobs, indirect evidence of income in the form of the amount of monthly expenses.

After making a decision, the court will prepare a writ of execution for further organization of forcible collection.

If the parent’s income is established, the court may order payments in shares, depending on the number of minor wards: for 1 child - a quarter of the income, for two - a third, for three - up to half of the income.

For the officially unemployed

Citizens who are registered with the Employment Service find themselves in the most advantageous position. If the husband is on the stock exchange, a share is assigned to the benefit allocated to the official unemployed from the state depending on the number of minor dependents. During the first months after dismissal, a citizen receives a benefit determined taking into account the average earnings at the last place of employment. Accordingly, alimony is calculated from the amount of the benefit. The deduction of alimony is made automatically on the basis of a writ of execution, and only then the balance of the benefit is transferred to the unemployed.

If a person quit a long time ago, alimony is calculated according to the level of the minimum wage established in the subject of the Federation for the current quarter.

Do retired fathers pay child support?

When the husband is retired, this does not change anything for the child. The legislation extends alimony obligations without age restrictions or social status of a capable citizen. The issue of recovery from a father receiving disability benefits is considered similarly. Pensioners receive official income in the form of government contributions. Child support payments will be deducted from them. In this case, the lack of earnings does not serve as a reason for exemption from parental obligations.

The basis for the recovery is RF PP No. 841, adopted in 1996. It clearly states that alimony is calculated based on various sources of income, including pensions upon reaching a certain age or disability.

The share of deductible alimony is determined by the number of children - the amount of monetary support in this case is set as a percentage of 25%, 33% or 50%.

Enforcement proceedings

Based on the results of the consideration of the case, the court makes a decision and issues a writ of execution to the claimant. With this document, the plaintiff is sent to the bailiff service and submits an application to initiate proceedings.

The application is drawn up in free form and must contain:

• information about the territorial branch of the bailiff service;
• information about the alimony collector, about their payer;
• information about the executive document;
• requirement for forced collection of alimony payments.

Based on the application and the document provided, the bailiff initiates proceedings and sends requests to various authorities and organizations in order to find out the sources of income of the debtor. If the alimony payer does not have an official job, then he must pay the funds himself.

In case of violation of payment terms, the following sanctions may be applied to the alimony payer:

1. Restriction on leaving the Russian Federation (if the amount of debt exceeds 10,000);
2. Restriction on driving a car;
3. Penalty in the amount of 0.1% of the debt amount for each day of non-payment;
4. Bringing to administrative responsibility;
5. Criminal prosecution, up to imprisonment for up to one year.

What does the Law say?

Every parent must support their child until the child can support himself. According to the Law, this moment is considered to be reaching adulthood (in some cases, even later).

The procedure and conditions for paying alimony are regulated by the current norms of the Family Code of the Russian Federation. Thus, according to Article 80 of the Family Code of the Russian Federation, a parent, even if he is not employed and does not have a permanent official income, is obliged to support his child. At the same time, he has the right to agree with the other parent on the amount and frequency of child support payments.

An important condition for paying alimony in the status of “unemployed” (in this article we will talk about the father) is that the amount of monthly payments (even by agreement) should not be less than the minimum amount of alimony established by the Legislation for a given year.

Parents who are divorced, in a civil marriage, or even serving a prison sentence are not exempt from paying child support.

Conclusions: An unemployed father, just like a working one, is obliged to support his child until he comes of age, paying at least the minimum amount of alimony established in the country at a given time.

Since in most cases unemployed fathers refuse to pay alimony voluntarily, mothers have no choice but to obtain forced payments by filing a corresponding statement of claim in court (Article 83 of the Family Code of the Russian Federation).

Read about the procedure for collecting alimony from an unemployed father in the next section.

How to collect alimony from the property of a non-working payer?

If the husband does not pay alimony for a certain time, is officially unemployed, but owns expensive property, for example, a car, then the recipient of alimony can file a claim to collect arrears of alimony. In the same claim, you can file a demand for a penalty, the amount of which is 0.1% for each day the payment deadline is missed.

Based on a court decision, the bailiff has the right to seize the debtor’s property, and his alimony debt will be repaid from the proceeds from the sale of this property.

To interact with bailiffs, the claimant may engage a representative who will act on his behalf on the basis of a power of attorney certified by a notary or other person, in accordance with the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation.

Procedure and rules for calculating alimony

Every minor child has the right to care, support and maintenance from their parents, even if the adults have been divorced for a long time. The spouse who does not live with the child is assigned alimony - a certain part of the money that is allocated to pay for food, education and other needs of the child.

The benefit is calculated based on the amount of monthly income, for example:

• 30% of the salary is supposed to be paid per child;
• for two children - 50%;
• for the maintenance of 3 or more minors, 60% of monthly earnings are due.

Parents can agree on a fixed amount of money to be paid monthly. To do this, you need to contact a notary and draw up a peace agreement. Evasion from paying alimony entails an administrative fine. Moreover, after 6 months of debt, the father may be deprived of parental rights, but the obligation to reimburse child support remains with the parent until the child turns 18 years old.

The second method of assigning alimony is a fixed (hard) sum of money, which is determined in accordance with the level of the cost of living established in the region of the country. Payments are controlled by a bailiff, so you must keep receipts.

Litigation

Litigation and enforcement proceedings take a lot of time, energy and effort. But when it comes to a child, all efforts are justified.

Answering the question whether it is worth applying for alimony for the unemployed father of a child, we note that you should apply for alimony in any case. Firstly, because circumstances can change at any time, and the debtor, realizing his obligation to pay alimony, can begin to officially work.

And secondly, in the process of judicial proceedings and enforcement proceedings, circumstances may be revealed that the claimant was not previously aware of. For example, the fact that the child’s father, although he does not officially work under an employment contract, but owns a block of shares that brings him a considerable income, or lives on funds received from renting out his real estate.

Amount of alimony

According to the RF IC, a special constant percentage of alimony payments is established, however, if the child’s father does not officially work, then under Art. 83 it is possible to establish a fixed monthly payment amount. The absence of reference to a certain amount of earnings allows you to act within the framework of Art. 117 SK, when alimony will be measured within the subsistence level typical for a certain region.

If the husband does not officially work, this will not prevent payments from being awarded in favor of the minor but disabled offspring. You can also recover them for the maintenance of the mother of the children in certain cases:

• Pregnancy.
• Raising a common child.
• Raising a disabled person.

Determination of the amount of alimony if the husband is unemployed is not made in absentia.

The court must examine not only his financial status, but also his family status, and take into account all the factors that influence his life. Evidence of hidden income is also considered. The basic rule: the plaintiff must not make an assumption, but be guided by a clear set of facts that he is able to prove.

All of the above information is important, because it does not just individualize the case of alimony, because the husband can both live in abundance, evading payments, and actually exist on unemployment benefits.

When demands are made for the payment of a clearly established amount of cash payments, they are substantiated with documents. After all, how much a man should pay for a healthy child is one thing, but maintaining a disabled child involves much greater expenses. They include not just providing him with the necessary minimum, but also certain procedures, medications, and sometimes special care.

There is a clear rule in the law, according to which the responsibility for maintaining the child falls on the shoulders of both parents, and therefore only half of the calculated alimony can be demanded. The remaining half must be given by the other parent. It is important that their calculation is carried out on the basis of checks, otherwise a proportionate reduction in content is possible.

The lawsuit also indicates hidden income, which includes not only third-party income received for work, but also bank deposits, rent from rented premises and other types of payments. All this significantly helps in obtaining alimony if the husband does not support the offspring.