Procedure and grounds for collecting alimony for wife maintenance

The collection of alimony for a spouse is not uncommon these days, and increasingly people turn to our lawyer for legal assistance in this area.

Our family lawyer will help you avoid getting confused in this issue, and will also submit an application for an increase in alimony in accordance with the needs of the spouse and child.

Child support payment options

When a woman gets divorced, she goes through a particularly difficult period, emotionally and financially. In this situation, you must remember that in any case the law is on your side. According to the RF IC, the husband is obliged to fully financially provide for his ex-wife. Alimony after a divorce is paid only in the case of an official marriage; when a civil marriage is divorced, alimony is not paid. Alimony payments to a wife can be paid in the following ways:

• on a voluntary basis;
• by agreement of both parties;
• according to the terms of the concluded marriage contract;
• as a result of a fixed sum of money established by the court.

Cases of recovery of alimony for a spouse

According to current legislation, a wife can file a claim to recover a certain amount of alimony for her maintenance from her husband or ex-spouse. It should be remembered that a man also has the right to file a counterclaim to reduce the amount of payment. Forced payment of alimony payments for the maintenance of a wife may be in the following cases:

1. Wife's incapacity for work (retirement age, disability). In this case, only those situations can be taken into account when the spouse was declared disabled during the marriage or no later than 1 year after the divorce. Also, alimony can be recovered in a long-term marriage (>10 years), when the wife has reached retirement age up to 5 years after the divorce.
2. Maternity leave of the wife or a state of pregnancy, when a woman is pregnant or caring for joint children under the age of 3 years.
3. Caring for a joint minor child (under 18 years old), recognized as a disabled child 1 gr.

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In practice, it is not always beneficial to receive alimony, especially if the ex-spouse does not have a permanent job, is unemployed or is irresponsible for the maintenance of his child. A woman can refuse alimony and obtain single mother status, which makes it possible to receive social benefits, tax and labor benefits.

Commentary on Article 89 of the RF IC

1. Marriage itself presupposes the moral obligation of the spouses to provide mutual material support to the spouses, regardless of whether they are in need and disabled (to a greater extent, such an obligation falls on men). However, the legislator enshrined this obligation in paragraph 1 of the commented article, according to which spouses are obliged to financially support each other. In this case, we are talking only about those persons whose marriage was registered in the prescribed manner.

2. The lack of material support, as mentioned above, gives the other spouse the right to file a claim for alimony.

The need and incapacity of spouses is determined in accordance with the general procedure. It follows from this that we are talking about spouses who have reached retirement age and disabled people of all groups. Need is an evaluative concept and is established in each case by the court depending on the specific circumstances. However, need usually means:

a) inability to ensure one’s existence;

b) insufficient state assistance - pensions and benefits in connection with disability.

When determining the availability of necessary funds, all types of earnings and income of the spouse are taken into account; whether he has income-generating property; the presence of persons to whom he is legally obliged to provide maintenance and who are actually dependent on him; the presence of mandatory payments that he must make based on a court decision or for other reasons. It does not take into account the presence of persons (parents, adult children) to whom the spouse paying alimony may, in turn, apply for alimony in the future, having become needy as a result of paying alimony to his spouse.

The law does not link the payment of alimony by one spouse to the other with the ability to work and age of the obligated person. It follows from this that both a disabled spouse and a minor spouse who, for example, entered into marriage before the age of 18, can be involved in the payment of alimony, provided that he has the necessary means for this.

Payment terms

Alimony payments for the maintenance of a spouse on maternity leave are made immediately after filing a claim in court. The husband must make payments on time until the end of the term when his duties end.

• Payments of alimony to the wife if there is a joint, completely healthy child under 3 years of age.
• Payments of alimony to the wife until the child reaches adulthood if caring for a child with a disability (up to 18 years of age).
• If you have a group I disabled child, child support payments are unlimited.

Termination of alimony payments

A man can stop alimony payments for the maintenance of his ex-wife if he provides the court with evidence of the following facts:

• The woman remarried.
• The ex-wife returned to work and is no longer on maternity leave.
• Other circumstances when the wife no longer needs financial assistance.
• A woman lives in a civil marriage with another person.
• In case of death of any of the parties (Article 120 of the RF IC).

Refusal to pay

It should be borne in mind that in cases where you were not officially married, the spouse is not obliged to pay alimony to support his common-law wife. In addition, the Family Code also provides for some situations when the court can completely reject the claim of a wife or ex-wife for her maintenance.

1. When a woman was declared incapacitated due to the intentional commission of a crime or in the case of alcohol and drug use. In this situation, the evidence will be a medical examination report or a final court verdict.
2. In case the time spent in a marital relationship is short. Typically, for the court to satisfy a claim for alimony for the maintenance of a legal wife, the period of marriage must be >5 years.
3. If the spouse behaved unworthily. This wording is in the law. It is quite difficult to say exactly what is meant by obscene behavior here. Therefore, experts included the wife’s drug and alcohol addiction, cruelty towards children or other family members, and immoral behavior (cheating on her spouse) as inappropriate behavior.

In all of the above situations, a claim for spousal support may be completely rejected. The amount of alimony is affected by the defendant's ability to pay. In order to reduce the total amount of alimony payments to the wife, it is necessary to file a counter-application with the court asking for a review of the case.

In addition, it should be noted that the court will not take into account the wife’s standard of living. In cases where a woman is accustomed to constantly living in luxury, this has nothing to do with the court’s decision, because the court always proceeds from the possible minimum threshold.

The court always grants claims for alimony payments: to a pregnant wife, on maternity leave to care for a child under 3 years of age, and caring for a disabled child. The final decision on the amount of alimony can always be challenged in court.

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In what cases can a wife claim alimony?

The fact that a woman can demand that her husband allocate a certain part of his income for her maintenance while they are married is well known, but the fact that she has the right to this even after an official breakup is news to many. Regardless of whether the spouses are current or former, alimony is paid to the wife who needs it if she is caring for a joint disabled child (either before he turns 18, or if the child is recognized as a group I disabled person since childhood).

After divorce, a woman whose income is insufficient can receive financial support from her former other half in the following cases:

• if she became disabled during marriage or within 1 year after its dissolution;
• if she became a pensioner no later than 5 years after the divorce (only in the case of a long-term marriage - that is, lasting at least 10 years);
• until the common child turns 3 years old;
• during pregnancy.

Amount of alimony

In a situation where there is no term and amount of alimony in the agreement on the payment of alimony for the spouse, then the court will determine a fixed amount of monthly payments. To determine the amount of cash payments, the material support of both parties and the cost of living are taken into account. As a rule, the fixed amount of monthly alimony payments is equal to the minimum wage (minimum wage). Even this decision can be appealed in court. If a man does not have a regular income or does not have enough money to support his living, or he has alimony obligations to other family members, then the spouse may be refused to pay alimony.

Another comment on Art. 89 of the Family Code of the Russian Federation

1. The amount of a fixed monetary amount of alimony collected in cases provided for in Articles 89, 90, 93-97 of the RF IC is established by the court based on the financial and marital status of the payer and recipient of alimony and other noteworthy interests of the parties (Article 91, paragraph 2 Article 98 RF IC). When determining the financial situation of the parties in cases of this category, the court takes into account all sources that form their income. In the above cases, the amount of alimony is established in an amount corresponding to a certain number of minimum wages, and is subject to indexation in proportion to the increase in the minimum wage established by law, which must be indicated in the operative part of the decision (Article 117 of the RF IC).

2. A necessary condition for the emergence of an alimony obligation is the possession of the necessary funds by the spouse obligated to pay alimony.

3. A wife during pregnancy and for three years from the birth of a common child is assumed to be in need of financial support. If there is no need for such support, the obligation to pay alimony does not arise, and the burden of proving the wife’s lack of need rests with the husband.

How to properly arrange alimony for your wife

If the spouses were unable to voluntarily agree on the payment of alimony to the spouse, then this issue goes to trial. The procedure for filing a claim for alimony for a wife is as follows:

1. Fill out a statement of claim to the court for payment of alimony for your wife;
2. Bring it to court;
3. Come to the court hearing at the specified time.

At this meeting, the issue of alimony payments to the wife and child, as well as their terms and amount, will be decided. If a man is not satisfied with the amount established by the court, he can challenge the court’s decision and file a counterclaim to reduce or cancel it.

How to collect alimony for spousal support?

The Family Code of the Russian Federation requires spouses to provide all kinds of support, including financial support. However, there are situations in which a wife may claim that her husband neglects his responsibilities and does not allocate enough funds for her maintenance. In this case, the woman can go to court with a demand to collect alimony from her husband. True, there are certain conditions on the basis of which the court can make a positive decision on the collection of alimony in favor of the wife:

• the marriage must be officially registered;
• the spouse is recognized as disabled and in need;
• pregnancy or the wife is raising a child under 3 years of age;
• the wife is raising a disabled minor child or a child of a group I disabled person.

If any of the above facts exist, a woman can file an application with the court demanding the collection of alimony for her maintenance. The statement states:

• name of the court;
• details of the parties;
• justification for the application;
• date of marriage registration.
• The date of application, personal signature and seal are affixed.

All documents confirming the possibility of collecting and receiving alimony must be attached to the application. The court considers applications for the collection of alimony in a lawsuit and, in the case of a positive decision, sets the amount of payments. Since Russian legislation does not stipulate a certain amount of payments, the court determines the amount based on a specific case. Options for the amount of alimony are assigned either in a fixed amount (i.e., fixed payments), or depending on the cost of living in a given region.

The court order is mandatory. If the spouse refuses to pay alimony, then he can be brought to both administrative and criminal liability within the powers of bailiffs.