In all cases, the decision to conceive and give birth to a baby must be shared. Therefore, after its adoption, each parent agrees that they are ready to assume the entire range of parental obligations towards the child. These points also apply to material care - both parents must fully provide for the child until they reach adulthood.
Therefore, in situations where the family breaks up for certain reasons, the child must remain with one of the parents, while losing some of the guardianship and care of the other parent. However, even under such circumstances, the baby should under no circumstances suffer financially. That is why the law provided for the process of collecting alimony from a parent who left his family and his child. Maximum and minimum amounts for child support can vary greatly depending on the situation.
How to get alimony
It is important to note that throughout Russia in 2021, appeals to courts on this issue were considered the most frequent. Withholding alimony through a court order is the most common method of collection.
In the future, after the court makes a decision, based on the submitted application, the parent’s employer will have to collect some part of the wages for the other parent every month. What amount he will ultimately have to pay will directly depend on many factors, as well as on the age of the defendant, his health, the amount of income, his current financial situation, and whether he has children from other marriages. For more information about the procedure for receiving alimony, read the article: “How and where to apply for alimony.”
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Alimony according to the form of collection
As mentioned above, alimony payments can be collected through the court both in shared income and in a fixed amount.
As a share of income
Let's consider the classic version of the calculation - in proportion to the father's salary, provided for in Art. 81 of the RF IC, and we will determine the minimum amount of alimony for mothers whose ex-spouses have a job and the ability to pay money for the maintenance of the baby. Let's take, for example, the minimum wage - the minimum wage, often paid officially with wages many times higher in reality.
According to Law No. 460-FZ, the minimum salary is 7,800 rubles from June 1, 2021.
For 1 child
In accordance with Art. 81 of the RF IC, a father receiving an official salary is obliged to pay a quarter of the child’s income.
From a salary in the amount of the minimum wage, the minimum amount of alimony in this case will be 1950 rubles.
For 2 children
The father is required to give a third of his income, or 33%. Based on the salary equal to the minimum wage, this will be 2,575 rubles.
For 3 children
A man pays his mother half of his earnings (1/2 of all income), that is, 3,900 rubles if the amount of income is equal to the minimum wage.
For 4 or more children
In any case, the father is obliged to give half of his income. The court may establish other amounts of deductions if it is obvious from the case materials that one of the parties is in greater need of money. However, such decisions are rare, and they are due to exceptional circumstances.
Example of alimony calculation. Petrov (2 children) and Sidorov (4 children) work for the minimum possible salary of 7,800 rubles. If the court establishes the payment of alimony to them on the basis of Art. 81 of the RF IC, the calculation will be as follows.
- Petrov will give his ex-wife 2,600 rubles, 1,300 rubles per minor.
- Sidorov will have to pay 3,900 rubles - 975 rubles for each child
It should be noted that if a man receives more than just wages, he should make deductions for the baby from all of his income. Alimony is withheld from:
- Compensation;
- Vacation pay;
- Financial assistance;
- From money received under contracts for the provision of services, contracts, etc.
There is a relatively small list of income that a man can completely keep for himself. For example, one-time assistance from the budget, payment for therapeutic and preventive nutrition, some compensation from the employer.
Example. Ivanov, the father of 1 child, works in a minimum paid position. At the same time, he rents out an apartment for 15,000 rubles a month. The court found that the father is obliged to give his son a quarter of the income from the amount of all his income.
Thus, Ivanov Jr. is entitled to: (¼ × 7,800) + (¼ × 15,000) = 5,700 rubles.
In a flat amount
This method of calculation is established by the court if the father has an unstable income, receives money in another currency, products, or is engaged in entrepreneurial activity. In such cases, it is advisable to calculate the amount of alimony from the subsistence level (hereinafter referred to as the minimum wage) established for the region of residence of the mother and child.
However, the amount of monthly deductions rarely coincides with the monthly minimum. Judges generally assign alimony in multiples of the minimum subsistence level - 1.5 monthly minimum, 2 monthly minimum, 0.5 monthly minimum, etc. The judicial practice that has been developing over the past couple of years is still moving towards fixing the minimum amount of alimony in a fixed amount of money no less than the subsistence level.
The specific coefficient depends on the father’s income, the standard of living of the mother and child, the number of children receiving alimony, and whether the man has other dependents.
When calculating alimony in a fixed amount, it is necessary to be guided by Rosstat data on the cost of living for children for specific regions.
Example. A man has two children from different wives. One wife lives in the Magadan region, the second - in Kursk. The amount of alimony assigned to each of the children is 0.5 monthly minimum for each region.
According to statistics, in the third quarter of 2021, the monthly allowance per child in the Magadan region is 18,985 rubles. That is, a minor will receive 9,492.5 rubles. In Kursk, the PM for the same period is 8,847 rubles, therefore, the second child can only claim 4,423.5 rubles.
It is difficult to calculate the minimum amount of alimony in a fixed amount, since judges set different coefficients. We can only say unequivocally that children from the Belgorod region can get the least. For them, in 2021 the cost of living is the lowest and is 8,233 rubles.
Calculation of the amount
The total amount of deductions throughout Russia is not at all difficult to calculate.
Alimony can be of two types:
- share of income (salary, pension, vacation pay, etc.);
- solid fixed shape.
Read the article in more detail: “What types of income are alimony paid from?” The table below shows the size calculation depending on the number of children.
| amount of children | amount of alimony as a share of income | alimony amount in a fixed amount |
| 1 child | 25% of income | 0.5 minimum wage |
| 2 children | 33% of income | 1 minimum wage |
| 3 or more | 50% of income | 2 minimum wage |
According to the established data, it was possible to determine that for one child the amount of alimony was one-fourth of the income, for two children this amount was one-third, and in the case where a man has three or more children, the withholding amounted to half the salary.
What amount is most often paid if the collection occurs in a fixed amount? The answer to this question is quite simple - in this case, the minimum wage is applied, that is, the minimum wage, in parts 0.5, 1 or 2, it all depends on the number of children the payer has.
Minimum and maximum alimony payments are not currently approved by law. In other words, there is no specific amount of money that a man must pay in favor of a child if he leaves the family. For example, the current family code currently indicates amounts only as a percentage of monthly income received. Therefore, below we propose to consider in more detail the maximum and minimum amount of child support per child.
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What is the minimum amount of alimony in 2021?
There is no fixed amount of alimony or a specific amount established by law. There are 2 options for establishing alimony - by agreement and by court decision, and in each case, alimony can be established both as a share of all types of earnings, and as a fixed amount of funds. Let's look at each of them.
By agreement
According to Art. 103 of the RF IC, parents of a minor independently choose one of the methods for calculating the amount of alimony:
- In shares of the father's income;
- In a fixed amount with a definition of the frequency of payment;
- In other ways, including by providing a lump sum or other material assistance.
Parents should keep in mind that when a notary approves a document, he checks whether the child’s rights have been violated.
Attention! In the agreement established by the former spouses, the amount of alimony payments cannot be less than what would be due to a minor by court decision.
By court
The court, when deciding to award alimony, proceeds primarily from the man’s solvency. There are the following ways to pay money for a child:
- If the father works or receives other official income in the form of a pension (other social security) - in a share of the amount received;
- If a man does not receive an official income or his income is irregular, alimony is set at a fixed amount, tied to the cost of living in the region where the mother and the minor live.
What is the maximum amount of alimony
It is important to remember that the maximum penalties cannot now be limited, because the life situations of each of us are different. The most important thing is to ensure that these deductions do not contribute to the infringement of the payer’s rights.
The maximum amount of alimony is not stated in any official documents because there cannot be a pre-approved amount. The maximum amount of the penalty depends directly on the payer’s salary, and it is calculated according to the established percentage.
To find out what the maximum amount of alimony is in a particular case, you need to consider the following several situations.
- At the time of an agreement between both parties, the maximum recovery cannot be limited in a certain way in principle. The main thing is to ensure that the rights of the payer are not infringed as a result. In other respects, the final amount can be absolutely any amount, the most important thing is that it fully satisfies both parties.
- In cases where it is necessary to accurately calculate alimony payments in parts of the salary, you need to remember the established provision: if there are three or more children, the final amount of alimony should not be more than half of the payer’s salary. In many cases, it happens that the court increases half the share, which, when considering the claim, took into account the indicators of the family financial situation of the parties along with other circumstances.
- If alimony payments were established in a fixed amount of money, then again we have to observe the absence of a precisely established maximum. In this case, the court is obliged to approve the final amount, which will be sufficient to maintain the usual level of financial support in accordance with all the circumstances.
Therefore, it is not possible to specifically answer the interesting question “how much exactly is the maximum amount of alimony.” The maximum size in this case is a fairly stretchable value. Regarding this point, there is only one limit - the maximum amount of penalties should be no more than 70% of the total amount of wages. This rule applies only to situations where minor children are involved.
Minimum size
In order to calculate the minimum amount of alimony, it is important not to forget that the final amount of alimony payments for the child should be no more than 50% of the total income. The minimum amount of penalties must be set taking into account the real needs of the child. The current law at the moment clearly states that both parents are obliged to ensure the full maintenance of the child for the physical, moral, and intellectual development of the individual.
How is the minimum amount of penalties determined in Russia? It is important to remember that every child has two parents, which means that you need to determine the child's financial need and then divide it by two. Therefore, this is how the minimum amount of child support is calculated for each minor child. We must also remember that this amount is the minimum alimony.
In exceptional cases, this amount is not enough to ensure a decent living for the child. Therefore, this amount is capable of supporting the child’s life at a certain level. These situations must be resorted to during a court hearing in a situation where the amount of alimony is insufficient, and there is also a need to increase it.
Last year, a minimum amount of alimony was established for each non-working citizen. Its final size must be established by the court depending on each indicator. However, you will still have to pay this amount. In this case, the following things of the parent can also be used for the child:
- his transport;
- Appliances;
- computers;
- jewelry and more.
We must also not forget that bank rent, shares, income from renting out premises and others may be suitable to pay the missing money. The minimum amount of alimony is a guideline that tells us how much money the child needs.
Minimum amount of child support
Unfortunately, current legislation gives unscrupulous alimony payers a lot of opportunities to reduce the amount of payments due to the child. Thus, an officially unemployed father can be registered with the Employment Center, receive a meager allowance, but at the same time work unofficially and hide his real income.
If the payer is unemployed
If the father is registered with the Employment Center and receives unemployment assistance, then depending on the number of children, he will pay his ex-wife a quarter, a third or half of the monthly benefit.
In accordance with Government Decree No. 1326 of December 8, 2016, the amount of payments for temporarily unemployed citizens ranges from 850 to 4,900 rubles.
The minimum amount of alimony, based on an allowance of 850 rubles, will be:
- 212.5 rubles – per child;
- 283.3 rubles – for two children;
- 425 rubles – for three or more children.
And these amounts are not for each child, but for everyone in general! For more information on the procedure for collecting alimony from an unemployed person and the specifics of their calculation, see this article.
The payer is working
Based on the minimum wage, the minimum amount will be:
- 1950 rubles – for one child;
- 2,600 rubles – for two offspring;
- 3,900 – for three or more minors.
The example with the minimum wage is formal. Often, unscrupulous employers set their employees a rate of 0.5 or 0.75 units, thereby further reducing the level of official payments.
As already mentioned, a different amount of deductions may be specified in the agreement or in the judge’s decision. But since alimony should be enough to provide for the children, it is unlikely that its amount will be lower than indicated.
Is it possible to increase the amount of funds received per child? Yes.
A woman has the right:
- challenge the judge’s decision if it has not yet entered into legal force;
- file a new claim to increase the amount of alimony, index it or collect a penalty in case of delay in payments;
- enter into a new agreement with your ex-spouse.
To do everything correctly and achieve the desired effect, it is recommended to contact a lawyer for qualified legal assistance or, at a minimum, free consultation from our specialists.
