ALIMONY

The intention of the legislator to provide people with a normal and dignified life is reflected in the legislation relating to alimony owed between family members. It is no accident that the legislator requires that alimony should be received/ paid between the members of the same family. This requirement is based on the idea that the family is the basic unit of the society and members of one family should care for each other. The main rule of payment of alimony is that a person in one family is in need of alimony, while another member of the same family can pay it.

In order to receive the alimony a person must simultaneously meet the following conditions:

  • To have family relationship with the person from whom he requires the alimony. 140, para. 1 of the Family Code defines the following order of persons from whom the alimony can be required:
  1. children and spouse;
  2. parents;
  3. the former spouse;
  4. grandchildren and grand grandchildren;
  5. brothers and sisters;
  6. grandparents and their ancestors.

This order of persons is obligatory, and in case a person of a certain degree does not have the ability to pay the alimony, the latter is owed by the representatives of the next degree. If several persons are representatives of a certain degree of kinship, the alimony is owed by all of them according to their capabilities.

  • The person who asks for alimony should be a disabled person. This disability should be due only to the small age or disease. This disability due to unwillingness to work, redundancy, and unemployment are not considered as grounds for claiming the alimony.
  • The person that should pay alimony should be able to pay it. This should be proved in court proceedings.
  • The person who asks for alimony should not be able to support himself by his own property. In each specific case the Court decides what the chances a person in need of alimony to support himself by his own assets are.

There is a special decree in relation to the general rules according to which decree “Parents are obliged to pay child support to their adult children, if the latter study in secondary and higher educational institutions within the prescribed period of study, until the age of twenty years in case of study in secondary school and until the age of twenty five years in case of study in a higher educational institution, and cannot support themselves by their own earnings or using their own property, and parents can pay the child support without much difficulty.”
The person who is obliged to pay alimony to several persons, shall pay it in the following order:

  1. to children and spouse;
  2. to the parents;
  3. to the former spouse;
  4. to grandchildren and great grandchildren;
  5. to brothers and sisters;
  6. to grandparents and their ancestors.

Amount of alimony

The amount of the monetary alimony is determined by the court depending on the needs of the person who has the right to receive alimony and capabilities of the person obliged to pay it. The alimony should be paid monthly. The minimum amount of the alimony for one child is ¼ of the minimum working salary. Parents are obliged to pay child support to their minor children regardless of whether the latters are able to work or not and whether the child is able to support himself using his own property or not. The court determines the amount of the child support in a reasoned decision taken in accordance with the evidences collected during the case about the needs of the child and abilities of the parent.

COURT CASE FOR CHILD SUPPORT

Each parent is obliged to provide child support to his child. This obligation is unconditional and does not depend on whether the child is able to work and to support himself using his own property, as well as it does not depend on the number of children of the person who must pay the child support. It also does not matter whether the parents of the child are married or not. The child support can be required during the time of marriage, and in the case of divorce /if the couple had a child during the marriage/ the question about the child support is a mandatory part of the divorce decision. The case about child support is considered during the fast proceeding according to the Civil Procedure Code /in such procedure terms for considering of a case are shorter and the case is completed faster/. In brief, the proceeding starts with submitting of a claim by one of the parents on behalf of the child /this parent acts as the legal representative of the child/, while the defendant is the parent from whom the alimony is required. Usually the regime of personal relationships with the child is settled along with the matter about child support. The defendant has the right to respond upon receiving of the claim, as after receiving of this response by the court the latter schedules a hearing within the period of next 3 weeks. During the hearing the Court once again invites the parties to come to an agreement and if such cannot be achieved, the court collects evidences and hears verbal statements. During the same hearing the court specifies the date of announcing of the court decision /which should be ready within two weeks term/. The term for appealing the decision is two weeks and it starts from the date of announcement of the decision /and not from the date of service/.

A new case about the change of the amount of child support can be started in the event of a change of circumstances.

The child support can be required for the past period of time but this period cannot exceed one year.

Grounds for termination of the child support are:

  • Coming of age (in case the child does not study in secondary or higher educational institution);
  • Marriage after becoming 16 years old;
  • Adoption – in the case of full adoption the obligation of the parent to pay child support is completely terminated, while in case of incomplete adoption the parent is obliged to pay the alimony only if such cannot be paid by the adopter.

ALIMONY FOR FORMER SPOUSE

The only precondition for the payment of such alimony is the fact that the marriage was terminated because of the fault of one of the spouses. In this case the guilty spouse may be obliged to pay alimony if it is proved that the other spouse is in need of alimony. The alimony is due maximum for the period of three years after termination of the marriage, unless the parties agree about a longer period. The court may extend the period if the party who receives the alimony is in a particularly bad condition and the person who is obliged to pay can make payments without difficulty.

Grounds for termination of alimony for the former spouse are as follows:

  • expiring of 3 years term after termination of the marriage;
  • registration of a new marriage by the spouse who receives the alimony;
  • the spouse who receives the spouse alimony has committed a major violation regarding the person who is obliged to pay the alimony, his spouse, descendant or ascendant.

Our judicial practice shows that legal disputes are usually not about whether the alimony should be paid but about the amount of the alimony. The court’s decision about the amount of the alimony depends on the evidences provided during the case and the facts stated by the parties. Very often parties in such a case do not pay attention to the facts and evidences that would be useful for them and miss the opportunity to achieve the desired result, which is why we suggest you to contact an expert for solving of such issues.

The present article does not represent a legal advice but a general theoretical essay on a specific legal issue. ID Law office is not liable in case of a misunderstanding of the information provided in this article.

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