The collection of monthly maintenance is not uncommon in the practice of courts of general jurisdiction, which is faced by the vast majority of parents after a divorce.
Of greater interest is not the judicial recovery procedure itself, but the amount of the monthly content that the defendant will be required to pay to his minor children.
Upcoming Legislation Change
Against the backdrop of recent changes regarding the support of the motherhood family, many expect the new law to be introduced for child support, and more precisely, changes in family law. It is planned to establish the initial amount of the amount of maintenance, which will depend on the cost of living. Also, according to the new law in 2018, persons raising children whose second parent evades the payment of financial support can also count on state guarantees regarding child support. But whether these changes will be accepted and when they come into force is not yet known exactly.
At the moment, the amount of alimony payments is most often established in court. This issue is regulated by Art. 81 SK of the Russian Federation.
The amount of alimony established by law
Family law provides for two options for determining the amount of recoverable child support payments:
1. In the proportion of the monthly content and the income received by the defendant for the month - Art. 81 SK of the Russian Federation. The essence of this provision is that the parent of the child is obliged every month, regardless of the size of his income, as well as its sources, to pay the percentage established by the court for the maintenance of the minor.
The percentage of deductions directly depends on the number of children of the respondent who have not reached the age of majority.
In accordance with Part 1 of Art. 81 SK of the Russian Federation:
- The amount of alimony per child is set at 25% or ¼ of the monthly total income.
- If there are two children, then child support is assigned in the amount of 2/3 of the monthly income, respectively, the percentage of deductions increases to 33%.
- If there are three or more minors, the law determines the amount of maintenance in the amount of 50% of the defendant's total income for the month. Moreover, each of the children should receive at least 16% regardless of the marriage in which he was born.
2. In solid monetary terms, monthly. At the request of the parent in whose care the children are, and if there are appropriate arguments, the court has the right to establish the amount of monthly maintenance in a fixed amount. This method of calculation is usually used in cases where the defendant has a variable income or intentionally tries to reduce the amount of his monthly earnings.
As practice shows, most often accrual of alimony occurs on the basis of Art. 81 SK of the Russian Federation. This exempts the parties from re-applying to the court in the event of a change in income.
Other payments for children recoverable through the court
Such life circumstances are also frequent when a child needs additional financial support.
There are no legal grounds for changing the initial amount of child support levied on minor children in court. However, it is possible to increase the amount of cash payments in other ways:
1. Collect child support for the parent with whom the children live. Legislatively provides for the possibility of payment of the maintenance of the mother, if she cares for a joint child with the defendant until he reaches the age of three. It doesn’t matter if a child was born in the marriage or after its dissolution.Of course, if there is no dispute about paternity.
2. Collect additional payments for the child. Such claims stem from the need to ensure proper treatment and care for a sick child. In such situations, the parent has the right to recover the amount of additional expenses, both already incurred and those that may arise in the future, for example, if expensive treatment is required periodically. The amount of payments established by the court, taking into account the actual costs incurred on the basis of supporting documents.
3. To recover in court proceedings alimony for the maintenance of the former spouse, if after the divorce, a disabled child remains in his care. In this case, payments are assigned directly to the parent of the disabled child.
When calculating the amount of maintenance payments in the first and last cases, the court is guided by the defendant's material and marital status. The amount of payments is assigned in a fixed amount. In this case, usually based on the size of the subsistence minimum, which is subject to periodic indexation.
Content Change
Changing the amount of alimony already collected is not prohibited by law, but this can only be done through a court of law and if there are legal grounds.
Article 119 of the Family Code of the Russian Federation permits a reduction in the amount of alimony collected:
- if the payer of alimony has changed the financial or marital status;
- in the event that a competent adult has committed a deliberate crime against the payer of monthly content or his misbehavior in relation to his parent.
Change in marital status
This provision of family law is related to the birth of other children by the parent, who is required to pay maintenance. In this case, in accordance with Part 2 of Art. 81 of the IC of the Russian Federation, not only a fixed amount of maintenance can be reduced, but also one that is established as a percentage of income, based on their total number of minor children held by the debtor.
Change in financial position
The material situation of a citizen directly depends on his ability to work and the possibility of obtaining decent earnings, therefore, the following can be grounds for reducing the amount of alimony:
- getting the parent a disability group;
- the presence of a child over 16 years old own earnings, allowing him to support himself;
- the child’s presence of additional income not related to labor activity;
- finding the child in the full maintenance of the state;
- critically low income from the alimony payer.
How much the monthly maintenance amount will be reduced depends entirely on the court, which first of all takes into account the real material condition of the plaintiff (payer).
Judicial practice Art. 81 of the IC of the Russian Federation most often proceeds from the fact that when the next children appear in the alimony, the shares in this case change relative to the number of minors.