By law, parents are required to support their children until they reach adulthood. If one of them paid child support, after the child reaches 18 years of age, he has every right to stop doing so. But there are several conditions under which alimony can be recovered after children reach adulthood. Lawyer, co-owner of LexGroup Ruzanna Khanamiryan .
Does the father pay child support after 18 years of age?
Adults have the same rights as adults. They can vote in elections, marry without parental consent, work and support themselves. But most often these possibilities are nominal, since in practice they are extremely difficult to implement.
Young people are still as dependent on their loved ones as before: they continue to live with them under the same roof and cannot yet find a job, as they must get an education. Often the financial situation of families, especially single-parent families, is difficult, and one mother is not able to provide an adult child with everything necessary.
Some adults remain attached to relatives for much longer, sometimes throughout their lives. We are talking about people with disabilities who need assistance, regular care or medical rehabilitation. Social benefits provided by the state are meager and most often do not provide even the basic needs of people with disabilities, not to mention full rehabilitation or a decent quality of life.
In these cases, the responsibility to provide financial support for children remains on the parents. Not only the mother with whom he remained after the divorce should take part in the child’s life. If the father does not seek to provide assistance to his son or daughter voluntarily, then the court can convince him of this.
Moving in with your father is not a reason
From an everyday point of view, a child living together with his father is a special case of a change in both family and financial status, and it seems that it can be considered a basis for exempting him from paying arrears of alimony.
However, the catch is that the debt was formed before the child moved. Before that, during the period when the debt was formed, the child, as far as I understand, lived with his mother. I believe that the court is unlikely to see grounds for exemption from payment of alimony debt. As is known, even the death of the alimony recipient or the achievement of the 18th birthday are not reasons for stopping the payment of the resulting alimony debt in favor of the claimant.
And in everyday life, let me doubt that with 16-odd thousand you can somehow get especially fat. In addition, you can control where alimony is spent (please read here).
When can you apply for child support after 18 years of age?
“Alimony for adult children is paid only in certain cases,” comments lawyer Ruzanna Khanamiryan. “This is possible if the child is a disabled person of the first and second groups, that is, unable to work, cannot move independently, or has serious chronic diseases and needs care.”
In case of disability of an adult, you can apply for payment of monthly maintenance indefinitely. The court has the right to oblige the second parent, who does not live with the family and does not help the disabled child in any way, to pay money throughout his life. The payment is assigned in a fixed amount: the minimum is 14,900 rubles, and the maximum is not limited. It is determined by monthly expenses for care, rehabilitation, and the purchase of medications, if necessary.
In this case, a parent who lives with and cares for a disabled child must prove that his income (salary or social benefits) is not enough to pay expenses related to the illness. Therefore, he is forced to turn to the second parent for financial help.
Alimony for a student child after 18 years of age
Obliging the second parent to pay child support if the child is healthy and able to work is much more difficult. The position of the courts in this case is clear - the need for maintenance must be proven.
“If a child studies at a university or technical school, you can apply for alimony,” the lawyer clarifies. - But here it is important to comply with several conditions. Firstly, training must be face-to-face. If the child entered into a contract, payment will be denied. Secondly, it is necessary to confirm that while he is undergoing training, the young man cannot support himself, and the mother with whom he lives also does not have sufficient income for maintenance, which is why she applies for the collection of alimony from the father.”
If the need for payment is proven, then alimony for a student after 18 years of age will be assigned in a fixed amount. And the parent will have to pay them until the child reaches 23 years of age or until the family’s financial situation changes.
Father and son's shared interest in football
After the divorce, the mother filed a lawsuit to determine the place of residence of the child, whom the father took for the summer holidays and, contrary to her wishes, left to live with him. The woman believed that the child was under psychological pressure, due to which he could not return to her. At the same time, she is on maternity leave and can devote more time to raising her son, his education and caring for him. The father filed a counterclaim in court to determine the place of residence of the child at the place of residence of the father and terminate the alimony obligations in favor of the mother for the maintenance of her son. In support, the child’s father explained that his son voluntarily moved in with him, the mother did not interfere with this, since she had a partner and gave birth to another child. The son is under his control, attends school, the football sports section, studies well, and participates in competitions. The father stated that a change of residence would have a negative impact on his son. According to the conclusions of psychologists and guardianship authorities, the child is calmer in the father’s family.
The court found that both parties have moral and moral qualities that allow them to raise a child, have positive characteristics in their place of residence and work, treat their son with love and express a sincere desire to live with him and raise him. However, by virtue of Art. 18 Constitution of the Russian Federation, art. 65 of the RF IC, the court rejected the mother’s claim, since the change in the son’s usual way of life did not meet his interests, and satisfied the father’s claim due to the length of residence with him, affection for him, friendly relations, general interest in playing football, the boy’s established way of life which became a habitual way of life for him. The higher court left the court's decision unchanged (Appeal ruling of the Moscow Regional Court dated April 20, 2016 in case No. 33-10705/2016).
What happens if you don't pay child support?
If we can agree...
Fathers do not always refuse to support their children. If a parent left the family, but wants to help his son or daughter while studying at a university, an agreement can be reached. For example, agree on a monthly amount to pay for the student’s current expenses: living in a dormitory, buying groceries, paying for travel. There is no longer any need to transfer money to the mother - an adult can receive it directly from the father and use it for his own needs.
Typically, such agreements are concluded orally: an amount is agreed upon, and then the father transfers the money to the account or gives the child in cash. You can also enter into a written agreement, where you need to indicate the form of payment: a percentage of the father’s income or a certain amount that he is willing to pay monthly, the regularity of payments, their terms. Both parents and an adult can enter into an agreement with their father or mother.
The peculiarity of such an agreement is its voluntariness. It is impossible to force a parent to pay, even if he signed the paper. The only way to achieve guaranteed payments is to collect alimony after the age of 18 for a student at a university or college through the court.
What to do if a child wants to live with his father
Lawyer: Lyudmila Abapolova
offline now
Ilya, hello!
I want the child to stay in St. Petersburg.
Ilya Shura
I believe that this can only be done in one way - to determine the child’s place of residence with you. Because you cannot prevent your wife and child from moving to another city.
According to Art. 54 of the Family Code of the Russian Federation, every child has the right to live and be raised in a family, the right to live together with their parents.
However, in cases where cohabitation of the parents themselves is no longer possible and there is talk of divorce, it is necessary to determine which parent the child will remain with.
In accordance with the rules of Art. 24 of the RF IC, when considering a case of divorce, the court is obliged to determine which parent the minor children will live with after the divorce, as well as from which parent and in what amount alimony for their children will be collected.
If an agreement is not reached between the parents on the issue of the child’s place of residence, then this dispute will be considered by the court, taking into account many circumstances. The main criterion for determining the place of residence of a child with one of the parents in court will be the interests of the child himself. In this regard, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, in Resolution of the Presidium of October 27, 1998 No. 10, determined that the court takes into account the age of the child, his attachment to each of the parents, brothers, sisters and other family members, moral and other personal qualities of the parents, relationships , existing between each parent and the child, the possibility of creating conditions for the child’s upbringing and development (taking into account the type of activity and work schedule of the parents, their financial and marital status, bearing in mind that in itself there is an advantage in the financial and living situation of one of the parents is not an unconditional basis for satisfying the requirements of this parent), as well as other circumstances characterizing the situation that has developed in the place of residence of each of the parents.
According to Art. 57 of the RF IC, a child has the right to express his opinion when deciding in the family any issue concerning his interests, as well as to be heard during any judicial or administrative proceedings. Taking into account the opinion of a child who has reached the age of ten is mandatory. That is, if a 10-year-old child expresses his desire to live with one of his parents, then the court will take this opinion into account, unless it violates the interests of the child himself (if the parent with whom he wants to stay does not abuse alcohol, does not lead immoral lifestyle and does not create a threat to the life and health of the child by its behavior).
Moreover, arguments about the financial situation and availability of a permanent job for the spouse with whom the child will not live are not taken into account by the courts. Because the obligation to support children is assigned to parents by the provisions of Art. 80 of the RF IC, and the fact that the child will live with his mother, for example, does not relieve the financially more secure father of the obligation to support him.
Ilya, if you have any questions, you can write to me in the chat and order a personal consultation or preparation of a document on your question. All the best!
Ask a Question
Collection procedure
“The collection of alimony for adults by court order is not carried out,” comments Ruzanna Khanamiryan. - This is only a claim proceeding. You need to go to court and prove that maintenance is necessary, since the second parent cannot independently pay for the child’s education and other expenses, and the child himself cannot yet provide for himself either.”
When filing a claim in court, you must provide supporting documents:
- birth certificate;
- an agreement with an educational institution, which states that the student is a full-time student and necessarily on a budget;
- documents of the mother's solvency.
It is important to understand that the arguments presented in court must be convincing. It is necessary to confirm the difficult financial situation of the family, to show that the mother has a small salary, which she cannot cover the costs of maintaining and educating the child. Provide other evidence, for example, that there are several children in the family, and the father does not help financially. If the court supports the mother's demands, the bailiffs will collect the money from the father's official income.
Is it possible for one of the children to live with their mother after a divorce, and the other with their father?
At the time of filing a claim for divorce, a minor, upon reaching 14 years of age, may notify the court of permanent residence with either parent . The court is obliged to take this fact into account.
Only if there are convincing arguments and evidence can the court disagree with the decision of the minor.
If during a divorce it is established that the father pays alimony, and the second child will live with him, payments will be obligatory only for the first child. Those. the one who stayed with his mother.
The second minor should receive not alimony payments, but the maintenance of the father. Mother and father receive equal visiting opportunities.
Courts very rarely set a schedule for visits. Parents choose a time and place subject to only one circumstance and requirement: it should not cause inconvenience and possible psychological trauma to the child.
