Parents are obliged to provide materially for their children. In the family, this issue is still somehow solved - but in the event of a divorce, he gets up quite sharply. How to protect the interests of the child? It is for this purpose that the Family Code of the Russian Federation provides for the possibility of concluding an agreement by parents or recovering child support payments through a court.
Unfortunately, not all parents fulfill their responsibilities. Avoiding them is too common. To stop this vicious practice, the legislator introduced an article under which criminal liability for non-payment of alimony - 157 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. It also refers to the punishment of adult children, who also have a legal obligation to support elderly and disabled parents. However, this type of payment is less common, so we will focus on those alimony that parents pay to children.
Criminal liability for non-payment of alimony in Russia: grounds for attracting
When failure to pay child support has been proven, criminal liability should be applied immediately. However, by law, in order to have reason to apply this article of the Criminal Code, several conditions must be met:
- court decision, on the basis of which payments are made from one of the parents for the maintenance of the child (alimony);
- non-payment was caused precisely by evasion, and not just a coincidence of life circumstances of the debtor;
- evasion was recognized as malicious.
Let us examine these points in more detail.
Collection - only through court
By law, such payments can be made in two forms: in court and by agreement between parents. However, if failure to pay child support is proven, criminal liability (article 157 Criminal Code) will come only in case of a court decision.
If an agreement has been made that is not being implemented, the algorithm of actions for the parent with whom the child is left will be as follows:
- the interested party filed a lawsuit to terminate the payment agreement due to a material violation by the other party.
- then a lawsuit is filed with the court on the recovery of financial assistance for the child;
- if this court decision is not complied with, criminal liability arises for non-payment of alimony.
Conscious actions of the perpetrator
It is not enough just not to pay child support in order to institute criminal proceedings against someone. In 2010, the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation indicated that non-payment becomes a crime only from the moment it can already be recognized as malicious. And for this it is necessary that the guilty not only delay payments, but also know that he is committing criminal acts. That is why, before starting a criminal case, the bailiffs initially use their methods - in particular, they warn the defaulter, collect them, and seize his property.
Thus, for such a violation as non-payment of alimony, criminal liability does not always occur.
What non-payment is malicious?
In order for criminal liability for non-payment of alimony to occur, it is required to prove that a person does this consciously. Modern legislation does not clearly define this feature, however, the bailiff service itself in the Methodological Recommendations regarding the identification and investigation of criminal acts provided for in this article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation recommends to be guided by the position of the Supreme Court of the RSFSR expressed in 1984 (a similar article already existed in Soviet times, as well as the practice of courts on it).It is supposed to be called malicious by default in the presence of two signs:
- non-payment is more than 4 months;
- a person by his behavior makes it clear that he does not intend to comply with the requirements of the law.
The last sign is the most controversial. In modern guidelines, it is interpreted more extensively. So, signs of malicious evasion will be considered:
- concealment of property and income;
- misleading the bailiff regarding his place of residence or work;
- communication of knowingly false information about yourself;
- lack of work or at least attempts to register at the labor exchange;
- even when warned, the perpetrator still does not pay child support.
What awaits the guilty?
Article 157 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation provides as a punishment the following:
- correctional labor for up to 12 months;
- forced labor up to 12 months;
- arrest up to 3 months;
- imprisonment of up to a year.
The choice of a specific type of punishment is carried out by the judge, taking into account the position of the prosecutor and the arguments given by the lawyer (if he is involved in the case) and the defendant himself. The only type of punishment that cannot be used is arrest. Unfortunately, from the year that the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation entered into force, not a single house of arrest has appeared on the territory of our country.
When does responsibility not come?
Criminal proceedings do not always begin when there is a failure to pay child support. Let's consider this question in more detail. Criminal liability occurs only if there are the above signs of a crime.
In addition, the perpetrator has the opportunity to avoid punishment in the following ways:
- Repentance. If the malicious defaulter himself confessed, voluntarily paid alimony for the past months or otherwise made amends for the harm that he did, he will most likely not be punished. However, this method will work only once. If a person takes up the old again, repentance will help him only reduce the punishment, but not avoid it.
- Reconciliation. The non-payer can come not to the bailiffs, but to his former family, to reconcile and pay all his debt to the penny. If they forgive him, one can raise the question of dismissing the case.
In addition, there will be no talk of responsibility if it turns out that the non-payment was caused by circumstances beyond the control of the guilty party. For example, if the defaulter was seriously ill all the time while the debt was accumulating, he was under treatment and could not earn money, criminal liability for non-payment of alimony does not occur for him.
