Evasion from paying alimony: Art. 157 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation in 2021

Evasion of paying child support is the most common violation of the rights of minors and disabled adults.
In connection with this legislation, means of punishment for such crimes have been developed. Art. 157 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation determines the types and measures of punishment for these acts. Multi-channel free hotline Legal advice on criminal law. Every day from 9.00 to 21.00

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The concept and essence of alimony payments

Child support is the responsibility of both parents . These are cash payments that are necessary to support a child until he reaches 18 years of age. This is the narrow meaning of this concept.

In a broader sense, alimony is a payment for the maintenance of an individual who, due to a serious health condition or other reasons, cannot independently provide himself with financial resources for subsistence.

Alimony may be paid to the following categories of persons:

Children under 18 years of age;
Disabled parents.

The following may act as alimony debtors:

Spouses present and former;
Common-law spouses registered as parents;
Children over 18 years of age;
Emancipated children over 16 years of age;
Other family members recognized as guardians in the absence of parents.

If the spouses were able to peacefully agree on the order of child support, they can independently conclude a bilateral agreement on this.

If the spouses are in a state of conflict and cannot divide the children, this issue can only be resolved in court.

Art. 157, part 1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation: comments on the object of the crime

The direct object of the act is the material aspect of the relationship between children and parents. Victims are primarily considered to be minors who have the right, by court decision, to receive funds from their own parents. In addition, to this category of subjects of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, Part 1 of Art. 157 refers to disabled children who have reached the age of 18 and whose mother/father is required to support as determined by the authorized authority. The origin of children is confirmed in the manner prescribed by law. It provides for registration of birth with the civil registry office. A corresponding entry about the child and his parents is made in a special book. Proof of a citizen's origin is his birth certificate issued by the civil registry office. It may be amended based on a judicial act. Adult children are recognized as disabled if they have a disability of 1-3 groups and, in addition, need help. The latter means that they do not receive benefits or pensions from the state or public associations or that this provision is not enough to meet their needs.

What is considered malicious evasion?

Malicious evasion of payment of alimony is a failure by a parent to fulfill the obligation to support a minor child, when the failure to fulfill is systematic, deliberate and prolonged.

The set of signs characterizing malicious evasion is defined in Resolution of the Plenum of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation No. 44 and is as follows:

Attempts to hide property or sources of income;
Change of job or place of residence without notifying bailiffs;
Administrative violations for non-payment of alimony;
Criminal penalties for non-payment of alimony.

Only that person in respect of whom there is a court decision that has entered into force on the obligation to pay alimony payments can be recognized as a malicious evader for non-payment of alimony.

In addition, for a parent’s behavior to be recognized as a malicious violation, there must be an impressive amount of debt and direct intent in his behavior.

If a person is a couple of months late in payment, this will not be grounds for initiating a criminal case against him for non-payment of alimony.

Exceptions

Even systematic failure to provide information about the following payments cannot qualify under the article in question:

Financial assistance and severance pay in case of dismissal.
One-time premiums for which insurance premiums are not calculated.
Rewards for outstanding works of art, literature, science.
Compensation for transfers and business trips to other areas.
Field allowance, bonuses and other payments that replace room and daily allowances.
Costs of free utilities and apartments provided.
Compensation for wear and tear of clothing and tools.
Amounts for additional food, treatment in sanatoriums (resorts), prosthetics for victims and the cost of caring for them when compensating for damage that occurred due to injury or other damage to health.
Benefits for the birth of a child.
Supplement to pensions for disabled people 1 gr. to care for them.
Funeral benefits from the state, deducted from social security. insurance.
Compensation for work in extreme or harmful conditions.
Benefits for single and large mothers.
Amounts intended for persons exposed to radiation in connection with accidents and disasters at nuclear power plants.
Benefits for minor dependents during the period of searching for parents, and so on.

What are the consequences of non-payment of alimony?

The obligation to pay alimony is enshrined in Art. 80 of the Family Code . The same codified act establishes a penalty as the first type of liability for late payment of alimony.

In Art. 115 of the RF IC defines this sanction . But here we are not talking about malicious evasion of alimony obligations.

More serious and systematic violations of alimony payments entail administrative or criminal liability.

As a rule, first, the draft dodger is repeatedly brought to administrative responsibility. If the behavior is not corrected, criminal liability is applied to it.

Execution of a court decision

As part of civil proceedings, a decision is made to award alimony for the maintenance of a minor child. A month later, when the decision comes into force, it will be transferred to the bailiffs for execution.

The bailiffs are obliged to immediately open enforcement proceedings and, if the defendant evades execution of the decision, apply compulsory enforcement measures against him. They are enshrined in Art. 64 and art. 68 Federal Law “On Enforcement Proceedings”.

In particular, bailiffs have the right to apply the following penalties against the evader:

Search for the defendant’s property and its location;
Seizure of the debtor's property and its sale at auction;
Seizure of accounts;
Restrictions on driving a car;
Ban on traveling outside the country, etc.

The bailiff, on his own initiative, can take measures against the debtor to enforce a court decision and even bring him to administrative responsibility.

The plaintiff in a civil case, in whose favor alimony will be collected, must cooperate in every possible way with the bailiffs and assist them in the execution of the court decision.

Administrative liability for non-payment of alimony

What will happen for non-payment of alimony under the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation? Administrative materials on bringing to justice persons who evade payment of alimony are considered by the magistrate's court.

Administrative liability in accordance with the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation can be applied to draft dodgers under several articles, in particular:

For failure to comply with the requirements of the bailiff or for providing false information, the defendant may be punished with a fine of 1 to 2.5 thousand rubles on the basis of Art. 17.14 Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation.
For a two-month delay in non-payment of alimony, a draft dodger can be prosecuted under Art. 5.35.1 Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation. In this case, sanctions may be applied to him in the form of compulsory work for up to 150 hours, administrative arrest for 10-15 days, or a fine of up to 20 thousand rubles.

A penalty can only be applied to certain categories of citizens: military personnel, police officers, disabled people, etc.

The bailiff is obliged to deliver the offender to the courtroom and be present in court until a ruling is made against him. This is because the judge can impose arrest as a punishment.

To ensure that the draft dodger does not escape, the bailiff will have to accompany him to the place of execution of the punishment.

Criminal liability for non-payment of alimony

Criminal liability under Art. 157 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is an extreme measure of influence on malicious draft dodgers.

In order to bring the offender to criminal responsibility, at least 4 months of evasion are necessary.

As a punishment under Art. 157 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation can be applied:

Correctional labor for up to a year;
Forced labor for up to a year;
Arrest up to 3 months;
Imprisonment for up to a year.

These measures can be applied against unscrupulous parents . When the evaders are able-bodied children who do not fulfill the responsibilities of supporting their disabled parents, the punishment will have exactly the same types and sizes.

In court, the defendant will need to prove with documents that he paid at least some minimum money for the maintenance of the child.

In a situation where a child was placed in an orphanage, employees of the orphanage can initiate a criminal case against the unscrupulous parent.

Family legal responsibility

In combination with criminal or administrative liability, family law liability can be applied separately.

In accordance with the RF IC, two types of liability can be applied to draft evaders:

Calculation of penalties on the amount of debt. According to Art. 115 of the RF IC for each day of delay a penalty of 0.5% must be charged.
Deprivation of parental rights from father or mother. According to Art. 69 of the RF IC, any violation of the obligation to support children can lead to the deprivation of paternity by the guardianship authorities and the PDN.

Even after deprivation or restriction of parental rights in relation to unscrupulous parents, they retain the right to pay child support.

Can they be jailed for failure to pay child support?

How long can they be imprisoned for such a crime? Theoretically, according to Art. 157 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, a malicious evader can be imprisoned for up to one year. But in fact, this happens extremely rarely.

In order for a real period of imprisonment to arise for non-payment of alimony, a confluence of certain circumstances is necessary:

The defendant has an outstanding criminal record;
The defendant has an outstanding period of parole;
The defendant fails to comply with the imposed requirements of the sentence. At the initiative of employees of the criminal-executive inspection, if the procedure for executing a court decision is not observed, the sentence may be revised.
The presence of a large number of aggravating circumstances.

That is why the question: whether people are imprisoned for failure to pay alimony cannot be reliably determined . When considering a criminal case, the judge will determine the punishment.

Do I need to notify any authorities about the suspension of activities?

First of all, the employee himself must notify management about the start of downtime. This can be done orally or in writing, for example in a memo. Written notification is required only in 1 case: if the downtime is caused by a strike. Employees who do not participate in it, but also do not have the opportunity to work because of it, must notify the administration in writing. Then they will be paid for this time as downtime for reasons beyond the control of the employee and employer.

The employer may be required to notify the employment service about downtime. But only in 1 case: if it is associated with the suspension of production (clause 2 of Article 25 of the Law of the Russian Federation dated 04/19/1991 No. 1032-I, clause 6 of the letter of Rostrud dated 03/19/2012 No. 395-6-1). The notification form can be used freely or recommended by the employment agency.

IMPORTANT! For failure to report downtime, an administrative fine is possible under Art. 19.7 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation in the amount of 3,000–5,000 rubles. for organization and 300–500 rub. for its officials.

How to initiate a criminal case for alimony?

Not every alimony payment evader can be prosecuted under Art. 157 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

In order to initiate a criminal case for alimony, it is necessary to follow the legal procedure, take the initiative and involve employees of many services and authorities.

In order for it to be possible to bring a person to criminal liability, it is necessary, first of all, a civil decision to collect alimony.

Civil case for the collection of alimony

The entire process of enforcement proceedings begins with an application to the court to award one of the parents the obligation to make child support payments.

Alimony can be collected through a statement of claim or a court order. A court order is issued if the person who will be the defendant in the case has one child. This is a summary proceeding and does not involve trial.

Usually it goes like this. The mother writes an application for a court order to collect alimony, after which the judge issues it within 5 days. The applicant independently submits this document for execution to the bailiffs or to the work of the defendant.

When the defendant already pays alimony for a child, the issue of awarding these payments to the second child will be resolved through the claim proceedings.

In this case, the parties to the process will be called to resolve the issue, including other wives to whom the defendant is already paying alimony for other children.

Criminal proceedings

The inquiry procedure under Art. 157 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is carried out by an employee of the bailiff service . The defendant must be assigned a defense attorney.

To initiate a criminal case, it is necessary to apply from the debtor, which will outline the debtor’s violations. Based on it, the bailiff draws up a report, which he passes on to the FSSP investigator.

As a general rule, the investigator has 3 days to verify the information about violations contained in the report.

After the initiation of a criminal case, the investigator makes a decision recognizing the minor child as the injured party.

After this, the investigator interrogates all participants in the criminal case, draws up an indictment and transfers the materials to the prosecutor's office.

Crime in 2021 under Art. 157 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation will be considered by a magistrate. Such cases, as a rule, are considered in a special order when the defendant pleads guilty.

Malicious evasion of non-payment of alimony, although a crime of minor gravity, is regulated by a large list of legislative acts.

This disorder has serious negative consequences for the well-being of the younger generation.

Parents are obliged to support their children no matter what: job loss, financial difficulties, conflicts with former partners and other unimportant circumstances.

Comments on the article

Article 157 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation; Failure to pay funds for the maintenance of children or disabled parents Article 157 provides for several types of punishment - the court can choose any of them: In 2021, an important change occurred in the article: instead of the concept of “malicious evasion”, it began to talk about any evasion.

Voluntary: the parties enter into an agreement that specifies the amount, payment methods and other nuances. After which the document is recorded by a notary;
Through the court: If the spouse refuses to pay, the other party can demand fulfillment of his obligations through the court. In this case, the amount will be determined by the judge.