The Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation proposes to expand the responsibility of alimony payers, obliging them, if necessary, to allocate funds to provide children with housing. The corresponding bill was supported by members of the Presidential Council for the Codification of Civil Law.
A new type of alimony is proposed to be paid if the children of divorced parents are found to be in need of housing or improved living conditions, the Parliamentary Newspaper writes. If this initiative is adopted, Article 86 of the Family Code of the Russian Federation (“Parental participation in additional expenses for children”) will be amended as follows:
“In the absence of an agreement and in the presence of exceptional circumstances (serious illness, injury of minor children or disabled adult children in need, the need to pay for outside care for them, provide a minor child with living quarters and other circumstances), each of the parents may be brought by the court to participate in carrying additional expenses caused by these circumstances. "
In this case, the procedure for the participation of parents in the payment of alimony and their size is determined by the court, “on the basis of the material and marital status of parents and children, as well as other interests of the parties noteworthy.”
The authors of the bill expect that the changes will allow the court in each case to make a decision based on the balance of the interests of the child and paying the child support to the parent.
It is noted that the first edition of the document was amended, and now in order to attract a separately living parent to pay funds for an apartment for a child, it is necessary that the second parent does not have housing suitable for permanent residence.
“Thus, if the project is adopted as a federal law, it will be possible to involve the parent in additional expenses that are necessary to ensure the child’s right to housing,” said Pavel Krasheninnikov, head of the Duma’s committee on state construction and legislation.
For 11 months of 2018, the bailiffs have recorded that 558 thousand Russians evade paying alimony. Among them, 72% of men and 28% of women. That is, about a third of alimony employees neglect their obligations to pay cash to the child.
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The head of the National Parental Committee, Irina Volynets, called the Justice Ministry’s initiative a fair one, involving the allocation of funds to ensure proper living conditions for the child.
"It is strange that earlier it was not provided by law ... If one of the parents is disabled, the able-bodied parent is obliged to ensure the maintenance of the child ... There may be objections, why the court did not establish the place of residence of the child with the able-bodied parent ... it is necessary to understand that each case is individual, ”Volynets noted.
RT interlocutor also urged to implement a program of municipal support for such families.
"The state has a housing stock, and such families need to be provided with housing under a social rent agreement ... This is less financially burdensome," she added.
According to the first deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on State Construction and Legislation, Vyacheslav Lysakov, the talk in the Ministry of Justice’s draft law is most likely about renting housing, and not about acquiring it. Thus, alimony for renting housing is added to the existing payments of 25–50% of earnings, which in the current realities is practically impossible.
"It turns out that already existing alimony will increase in size: in addition to the minimum amount for maintenance, food and clothing (which are also not enough at current prices), an additional amount is needed for removable housing, this is at least 20-30 thousand rubles," - said RT parliamentarian.
He added that although this idea is humanistic, it is necessary to take into account the balance of interests in each specific case. For example, if a parent in another family who has gone from one family has brought several children, the payment of increased child support to the first child may impair the rights of his children born in a new marriage.
“This should also be taken into account. It may happen that, providing housing, even removable, his past family, he will not be able to provide for the maintenance of the current family. There should not be a conflict of interest, ”Lysakov noted.
In turn, his colleague, the first deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on State Building and Legislation, Mikhail Yemelyanov, also expressed the opinion that a number of questions arise about the current version of the draft law.
“First of all, with the current level of income, the overwhelming majority of parents will not be able to pay this type of alimony. The second point - from a legal point of view, the fragmentation of some kind of payment into separate types is strange. There should be a single reasonable amount of alimony, which must pay the spouse who does not live with the child. And it should be sufficient to meet the needs of the child on the one hand, and on the other, not to make a homeless and second parent, ”said the deputy.
He also drew attention to another important point - the need to ensure the collection of alimony, and also to find all defaulters who do not fulfill their obligations under already existing alimony items.
“What is the point of introducing new types of alimony, if the existing ones are not paid? We have repeatedly proposed to create an alimony fund. That is, the state pays alimony from the budget for those parents who are on the run. But when they are found, they fully and to a greater extent reimburse the state for all costs, ”added Yemelyanov.