How is child support calculated?

The amount and procedure for providing alimony maintenance can be established by the parties by mutual agreement or, if consensus cannot be reached, with the involvement of the court in resolving the conflict.

Child support is mandatory (Article 80 of the Family Code) and is in demand more often than others, therefore the procedure for collecting and processing it is discussed in detail in the Family Code.

The calculation of alimony payments is individual, but is based on general principles stipulated by the legislator.

Methods for collecting alimony in favor of a child vary depending on the financial situation of the payer and his life status, and therefore it is necessary to understand how alimony is calculated and calculated in each specific case.

In this section we will look at the procedure for calculating alimony. The issue of child support can be resolved by parents peacefully and in a civilized manner (oral or notarized agreement) or with the involvement of the court (writ or lawsuit proceedings).

Alimony agreement

SK Ch. 16

Consensual alimony can be in monetary, in-kind and property terms (SK Art. 104).

The amount of conciliatory alimony cannot be lower than the amount of the benefit, calculated as a percentage (SK Art. 103, 81).

Indexation of contractual alimony is carried out in relation to the regional or all-Russian subsistence level (SC Art. 105, 117), established by Government Decrees on a quarterly basis.

The alimony agreement is written down on paper and signed by a notary. The document is equivalent to a writ of execution, therefore, if it is available, going to court is excluded (IC Art. 100).

Court order

Alimony cases are within the jurisdiction of the magistrate (Civil Procedure Code Art. 23), unless complicated by related requirements (divorce, paternity, division of property, etc.).

Complex cases with related requirements are within the jurisdiction of the district/city court.

A court order for alimony (Civil Procedure Code Art. 122, 126) is issued within 5 days after filing an application and is possible when requesting shared alimony (SK Art. 80). It is assumed that the “alimony case” is not complicated by unidentified paternity, concealment of income, disputes and several writs of execution from the payer.

Filing a claim for alimony

According to the claim (Civil Procedure Code Ch. 12), shared, fixed and mixed alimony can be requested (SK Art. 81, 83). An application (claim) with designated and substantiated claims is submitted to the office of the magistrate’s court.

A month is allotted to consider the case and make a decision (Civil Procedure Code Art. 154). Simplification of claim proceedings (Civil Procedure Code Art. 232.

2) when considering cases affecting the interests and rights of minor citizens, it is not allowed.

Methods for collecting alimony

Alimony can be paid in kind, property and/or money.

The first two options are permissible only within the framework of an alimony agreement. When collected by court, child support has a monetary value:

• percentage (share) calculation (SC Art. 81);
• fixed monthly payment (SK Art. 83);
• complex alimony percentage + fixed amount (SK Art. 83).

Alimony, once ordered by the court, is not a dogma at all. They can be changed in both directions (SK Art. 81 clause 2, 119) if there are reasons for a separate claim by one of the parties.

Collection of funds in favor of the child is made from all types of labor income of the alimony payer, including bonuses and fees (PP No. 841 1996/18/07 as amended 2015/09/04).

State and municipal benefits aimed at supporting a person in the event of deteriorating health and the need for rehabilitation, after catastrophes and natural disasters, in the event of a new addition to the family or the death of loved ones, enjoy immunity. Personal income, which is taboo for alimony penalties, is listed in Federal Law No. 229 on individual entrepreneurs 2007/02/10 as amended. 2016/28/12 art. 101.

Alimony in shares

SK Art. 81

In both cases, the application is submitted to the magistrate's court, territorial jurisdiction - the right of choice of the applicant (Civil Procedure Code art. 23, 29 clause 3).

Shared alimony is prescribed in a standard (not complicated by circumstances) situation:

• the payer’s income is transparent and regular;
• paternity is obvious and not disputed;
• the payer himself is located in the country, his income has not been transferred outside of Russia.

Every month, 25% – 33.3% – 50% of earnings are allocated for child support for 1 – 2 – 3 children, respectively (SK Art. 81). Deductions are made after personal income tax has been paid. A review of the shares of alimony occurs if the payer has another child in another marriage.

Alimony for a second child

• The second and each subsequent baby born has the same rights as the previous children.
• Satisfying the interests of one child while simultaneously infringing on the interests of another is not allowed, that is, all children born from the same father receive the same alimony.
• Woman's second child:

1. Born from the same father after assigning 25% alimony to the first offspring. For two children, a deduction of 33.3% is due, that is, the share of each child will be 16.65%. At the same time, in individual terms, alimony for the first offspring is reduced.
2. Born from a different father. The child is entitled to 25% of his father’s money if he has the only child, or 16.65% of his father’s earnings if the father has two children (16.65 + 16.65 = 33.3), etc.

The percentage of earnings withdrawn for child support obligations depends on the number of children the defendant has, not the plaintiff.

The birth of a second child to a man leads, by law, to an automatic reduction in the children’s shares to 1/6 (1/6 + 1/6 = 1/3 for two).

This arrangement does not always suit mothers, so the court in some cases may leave children raised in different families with 25% each, if the income of the alimony payer allows.

The court does not always satisfy the claim to reduce the percentage shares at the birth of the second child, as it is based on the interests of the children and other circumstances worthy of attention.

Alimony in a fixed amount

Fixed alimony cannot be assigned by a court order, but only by a court decision.

The grounds for requesting alimony in a fixed amount are:

• instability of earnings;
• periodic nature of the work;
• impossibility of determining the real amount of income;
• availability of income in rubles, currency and/or in kind;
• discrepancy between children's expenses and the amount of percentage alimony and the true income of the withdrawn parent.

It is in the interests of the applicant to provide the court with as much information as possible about the hidden income of the second party . The fixed parental child benefit is tied to the consumer basket and is set as a multiple of the subsistence level in the child’s region of residence (SK Art. 117). Indexation of fixed alimony is carried out simultaneously with changes in the monthly minimum 4 times a year.

Fixed alimony will also be assigned if the payer is unemployed.

Alimony from an unemployed person

Unemployed status (permanently or temporarily) does not relieve a parent from the obligation to support his child until adulthood (IC Article 80; PP No. 841 1996/18/07 rev. 2015/09/04 clauses 2a, 2b, 2c).

In such cases, the court usually orders fixed alimony based on:

• from the real need of the baby;
• from the usual conditions of his existence;
• from the family and financial situation of both parents.

Unemployment in the labor process is decided by the court through the Central Labor Office. The alimony recipient will be provided with assistance in finding employment as quickly as possible - and he will not have any reason to refuse the provided work.

Minimum for alimony

A parent who categorically does not want to pay child support does his best to hide his real income. It is not uncommon for alimony maintenance to be calculated according to the minimum wage, below which wages cannot be set in the country (LC Article 133, paragraph 7).

Federal Law No. 460 (2016/19/12) for the second half of 2017 established the minimum wage in the amount of 7,800 rubles. Based on the fact that shared alimony is the most common, 1950 / 2600 / 3900 rubles, respectively, will be withdrawn from the earnings of the unlucky parent in favor of the children according to the writ of execution, respectively, for 1 / 2 / 3 of the offspring.

Calculation of penalties

The penalty for unpaid alimony is fixed by law (SK Art. 115) in the amount of 0.5% of the amount owed for each day of delay.

Calculation example. The total amount of alimony debt for 8 months of evasion reached 20 thousand. 20000 x 0.5% = 100 rubles per day of delay. 8 x 30 = 240 days overdue. 100 x 240 = 24,000 rubles of penalty is subject to collection in addition to the repayment of the formed debt.

Collection of a penalty cannot be applied if the debt arose due to the fault of the employer, accounting department, bank, but not due to the malicious intent of the alimony payer (Review of judicial practice of the Presidium of the Supreme Court 2015/13/05 section X).

It should be remembered that child support can be collected and received not only after a divorce, but also during marriage, and also if the parents did not officially register their relationship at all.

The amount of alimony is assigned individually, taking into account many circumstances, and can be increased or decreased based on an assessment of the financial situation, standard of living and health of the payer.

In some cases, the child support obligation may be completely removed from the second parent.

The minimum amount of alimony is determined on the basis of minimum wages, while the maximum is limited to reasonable limits. The penalty for overdue alimony payments may exceed the amount of the debt itself and cannot be reduced by a court decision (Review of judicial practice 2015/13/05 section X).

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How is child support calculated?

Often after a divorce (and sometimes without it), it becomes necessary to encourage one of the parents to regularly pay a certain amount for the maintenance of children (or one child). Such payments, prescribed by direct instructions of the law, are called alimony.

Normative base

Legal regulation of issues related to alimony is carried out:

• Family Code of the Russian Federation. Establishes the basic provisions for the assignment of alimony: to whom it is paid, the amount, methods of establishment (voluntary / by court), the procedure for changing the content of the parental agreement, other issues.
• Federal Law No. 229-FZ “On Enforcement Proceedings” (1996). Regulates the process of collecting alimony after receiving writs of execution.
• Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation “On the list of types of wages and other income from which alimony is withheld” (No. 841 of July 18, 1996). Establishes those types of income/property for which alimony is not collected.
• Civil and civil procedure codes. They regulate issues (including procedural ones) of applying to the court for alimony.

In general, domestic legislation regulates in detail issues related to alimony, both for minor children and for persons in need of support from relatives.

The alimony payer - who is it?

The parent with whom the child lives actually participates in providing for him, but the one who lives separately or does not want to allocate funds on his own does so through alimony.

The alimony obligation is strictly personal in nature - you cannot oblige, for example, the new spouse of the mother of a minor who is not the father or adoptive parent to pay. The payer cannot transfer the obligation to pay alimony to other persons, even if they agree.

The obligation is terminated only due to:

• death of the obligated person (payer);
• death of the person to whom payments are made;
• the child reaches the age of majority, provided that he is not recognized as disabled or in need of maintenance.

Important: you can establish alimony for a child after 18 years of age; to do this, you must prove in court that the child needs care (most often due to disability), financial support from the parents, or is incompetent.

Chapter 16 of the RF IC regulates the voluntary method of calculating alimony, the form of the agreement, the conditions, the possibility of changing the conditions, and declaring them invalid in a number of cases.

If the parents do not reach a mutual agreement, the party with the child has the right to go to court. In the vast majority of cases, the court determines the amount of alimony based on the interests of the child, issuing a writ of execution or a court order, according to which alimony is collected from the payer.

Please note: you can transfer money to a child (as well as participate in upbringing) without an agreement/writ of execution, on your own initiative and desire. If there are no material conflicts between the parents, going to court is not necessary (this is the right, not the obligation of the second parent).

• If the parents have their consent, they sign the alimony agreement, having it certified by a notary (required). It is not forbidden to write the text yourself, but a notary will do it more competently.
• The agreement is in writing (otherwise it is considered not concluded).
• According to the agreement, it is possible to make a one-time transfer of a fixed sum of money to the child, or to transfer any property (for example, real estate) on account of this.
• Unilateral refusal or change of the terms of the agreement is impossible.
• In some cases, for example, if the amount of alimony is below the level established by law, or clearly below the amount that would be due to the child in court, the agreement can be revised at the request of the interested party.

The parties determine the methods of paying alimony under the agreement independently (in percentage, in a fixed amount, etc. (Article 104 of the RF IC). Payments under the agreement are subject to indexation (according to Article 117 of the RF IC or voluntarily).

Calculation of alimony through the court

If the parents have not reached a mutual decision on the maintenance of the children, alimony is collected by court decision. The application to the court is submitted by the parent with whom the child lives.

You can resolve the issue of alimony through writ proceedings (with a magistrate, upon application, in a simplified manner), or in litigation proceedings (in a court of general jurisdiction). However, if the defendant is already paying in favor of other children, or has other writs of execution, the case can only be considered in a general manner, by filing a lawsuit.

When assigning alimony, the court primarily takes into account the interests of the child, but in some cases also takes into account the position of the alimony payer (for example, the presence of a stable income, work, health status, etc.).

Alimony can be determined as a percentage of earnings (other income), or as a fixed amount.

A writ of execution or court order is issued to the applicant, who has the right to present it to the payer’s employer, or to contact the bailiff service for recovery through enforcement proceedings.

Procedure for calculating alimony

The calculation of the amount of payment for a child according to a writ of execution in the employer’s accounting department is carried out as follows:

• the salary for the past period (month) is calculated;
• is calculated by NDF;
• ¼, 1/3 or 1/2 of the salary is calculated after deducting personal income tax;
• the amount received is transferred within 3 days after payday.

Example: S.A. Petrov’s salary for the month was accrued in the amount of 30,000 rubles. According to the writ of execution, he is obliged to transfer 25% to the minor child.

Personal income tax is 3,900 rubles (tax deduction is not provided). The amount from which alimony is calculated is 26,100 rubles. Alimony in this case will be 1/4 x 26,100 rubles. = 6,550 rubles.

Important: when withholding child support, the total amount of deductions from the debtor’s income should not exceed 70% (Law on Enforcement Proceedings).

If the plaintiff proves that he tried to collect child support from the second parent, but was unsuccessful, the court may order payments for a period of no more than three previous years.

• as a share of salary (¼, 1/3, ½);
• in a fixed sum of money (by court decision, in an amount that is a multiple of the minimum subsistence level for a minor in the region/subject);
• in the amount established by agreement of the parties;
• by transferring property and funds specified in the agreement.

The procedure for transferring child support to a child’s account

Alimony payments are established for the child (his needs), and are received by the legal representative, in this case, the parent with whom the child lives.

To receive funds, you must submit an application, a copy of the birth certificate, and information about the current account to which the funds will be transferred to the accounting department of the alimony payer’s employer.

The law does not regulate the methods of transferring money, so it is possible to receive it by postal order, issue it in cash at the employer’s cash desk , etc.

Most often in recent years, transfers to a bank account (card) have been practiced.

The transfer is made once a month, after the payment period (the month for which the salary was accrued).

The ability to file a claim for alimony is not linked by law to the state of an official marriage. You can receive alimony payments both in divorce and marriage.

Postings for calculating alimony

When transferring through the cash desk of an enterprise, payment is made from debit 76 to credit 50, by mail - to credit 57, by non-cash transfer to the payee's account - to credit 51.

Domestic legislation proceeds when assigning alimony primarily from the interests of children, only in a limited number of cases taking into account the situation of the payer (most often health), and also gives parents the opportunity, even after the breakup of the family, to resolve the issue of child support by agreement, without litigation.

Consultation with a specialist on video

Oksana Bulat, author of the “Taxes and Accounting” video channel, talks about difficult moments.

Is alimony calculated from clean or dirty wages? The procedure for calculating alimony by the accounting department:

When spouses divorce, the issue of financial support for the child becomes extremely acute and radical.

How much will the father pay (most often, minor children stay with the mother) for the maintenance of his child? Is alimony calculated on a “clean” or “dirty” salary? Until when will payments be made? As you can see, there are many questions about calculating alimony.

In the same way, there are a large number of nuances: what if the father works unofficially? Or if he has other children from previous marriages? In this article we will try to find answers to all these questions.

Method of admission

Before we look at whether alimony is calculated from a “clean” or “dirty” salary, let’s find out what opportunities a father has to help his children. All provisions regarding such payments are specified in Article 104 of the Family Code of the Russian Federation.

First of all, this is a shared accrual, according to which a certain percentage is deducted from the father’s official salary in the form of funds to cover the child’s needs. This is the most common type of alimony payment.

The second method is a specific fixed amount that the father is obliged to transfer to the mother of his child one time or monthly. This amount can be set by the court or it is stated in the agreement signed between the former spouses and certified by a notary.

But there is another possibility of paying alimony - mixed accrual, according to which financial assistance to the child is provided in other ways, not always expressed in monetary terms. Most often, this method is used when the father does not have a full-time job or his salary is insufficient to cover the child’s basic expenses.

Payment period

Most often, the father begins paying alimony immediately after the divorce. In some cases, the first day of such payments is considered to be the date the woman goes to court to resolve controversial issues regarding alimony.

When can a father stop paying a certain amount of child support? As mentioned above, alimony is a payment that provides financial support for a minor child.

That is, as soon as the son or daughter of the alimony provider turns eighteen years old, he has the legal right to stop providing financial assistance to his child.

It is noteworthy that if a minor child continues to study (at an institute, school or college), he still loses the right to official support from his father.

In such cases, responsible parents continue to help their adult child, realizing that studying also requires large expenses. However, this does not always happen. Sometimes fathers, feeling that they no longer owe their child anything legally, stop providing him with financial assistance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NH6HQyofLLI

However, there are some nuances here too. For example, if the son or daughter of the alimony provider is disabled since childhood (no matter what the disease), then the father is obliged to provide him with assistance for the duration of the period regulated by Russian legislation.

Types of salaries

Now let’s move directly to the question of how alimony is calculated: from a “clean” or “dirty” salary? Before understanding this topic, let's find out what is meant by these concepts.

First of all, you should know that these terms are not official, but popular. “Dirty” wages are the amount a person receives per month without tax calculations. While the “net” salary is the money that the employee receives in his hands. It is clear that “dirty” wages are higher than “clean” wages. So how much is alimony calculated from?

According to the legislation of our homeland, there are a number of detailed instructions regarding how alimony is calculated. For example, paragraph one of Article No. 99 of the Federal Law “On Enforcement Proceedings,” dated October 2, 2007, states that alimony is calculated from the amount that remains after taxes are withheld. In other words, from a “net” salary.

How to determine how much to pay

According to Article 81 of the Family Code of our homeland, a fixed percentage ratio has been established that regulates the amount of payments. What percentage of the salary is child support for 1 child? Most often, this is no more than 25 percent of the official amount earned.

But what percentage of the salary is child support for two children? The required amount is considered to be one third of the salary or 33 percent.

• If there are three or more children, then the father is obliged to pay at least half of his salary, but not more than seventy percent.
• Below is a sample alimony calculation.
• So, if a father received eighty thousand rubles per month, then the amount deducted from this salary for the maintenance of one child will be no more than twenty thousand rubles, for two children - a little more than 26.5 thousand rubles, for three or more - no less than forty thousand.
• If the alimony provider has minor children from different marriages, then the specified amounts are evenly distributed between them according to the court decision.

It is worth saying that the above amounts cannot be final, since a woman can increase the share of payments for the child in court. In some cases, a man can file a lawsuit to reduce alimony, which will be approved during the hearing.

So, we have sorted out the amount of alimony from wages. Now let's find out what else may be included in the share of payments that ensure the full maintenance of a minor child?

What income is taken into account?

First of all, of course, the salary is taken into account (if the alimony worker works at an official enterprise). This should also include various bonuses and incentives given at work and displayed in the accounting statements (overtime, salary supplements, incentives and vacation pay).

How else can alimony be calculated? A scholarship, pension, unemployment or disability benefits are all a person’s income that is subject to mandatory collection. This can also include royalties, income from the sale of real estate, and so on.

However, there are also those from whom alimony cannot be calculated.

What income is not taken into account?

These include:

• Survivor's pension benefits.
• Compensation for harm or compensation for injury arising in the performance of official duties.
• Other compensation amounts (due to man-made disasters, caring for a disabled family member, etc.).
• Travel income or related to depreciation.
• Humanitarian assistance.

How can you pay alimony?

Methods of transferring financial support to a child

In practice, the most common methods of alimony payments are:

• From the place of work. This option is considered the most popular, so we will discuss it in more detail below.
• By mail. To do this, you must indicate the last name, first name and patronymic of not only the recipient, but also the payer. It is also necessary to indicate in the postal order the date of payment, the specific amount and the exact period of time for which it is paid, and the address of the recipient. It is advisable to keep all the papers relating to this transfer until the child reaches adulthood, so that an unscrupulous recipient does not sue the alimony provider for allegedly not participating in the maintenance of his own child.
• From hand to hand. It is good when spouses can calmly communicate with each other after a divorce, jointly discussing issues of raising a child and its maintenance. However, it is important to be extremely careful here. When transferring alimony in person, it is important to take a receipt confirming receipt of the required amount as alimony payments. The document must indicate specific information (who received it, from whom, for what and how much), as well as the exact date of transfer of money.

From the place of work

What is the procedure for calculating alimony by the accounting department of an enterprise where a divorced parent may work? First of all, such a person must take an official document to the financial department at his place of work, according to which a certain amount of money from his salary will be transferred to the bank or personal account of his wife. Such a document can be a court order, a writ of execution or a notarial agreement of both spouses).

In accordance with it, the chief accountant of the enterprise independently calculates the amount (if it is not fixed) and transfers it to another cash account.

However, this is not all the information needed to transfer funds. It is imperative to indicate the “dirty” salary of the alimony worker, the number of days he worked, the amount of tax (which usually does not exceed thirteen percent), the individual taxpayer number and the amount of arrears in payments, if any. We figured out how to reflect alimony in accounting.

It is also worth pointing out here that child support payments must be transferred within three days after receiving wages.

Otherwise, the recipient may demand a penalty, which will be fraught with numerous problems not only for the alimony payer, but also for his employer.

Therefore, when making a bank transfer, it is very important to note that the payment is a priority. This will help the financial institution staff to transfer the amount as soon as possible.

It is also worth knowing that alimony payments can be made through the accounting department without the knowledge of the employee if documents on the need to make payments were delivered to his place of work (alimony payment order).

In what cases does the court decide the case?

There are situations when spouses cannot agree on the amount of funds transferred, or when the alimony payer hides his official salary, or works unofficially or irregularly. In this case, the case is sent to court.

The judge, taking into account the financial status of both spouses, in order to create favorable conditions for the maintenance of a minor child, has the right to make the following decisions:

• If the payer does not work, he must pay a fixed amount per month for the maintenance of his child, calculated in accordance with the minimum subsistence level of the given region.
• If the alimony recipient has an irregular income or it is impossible to determine his arrears in payments, then the amount of payments can be equated to the average salary of the region where the interested person lives.
• If the payer receives a salary in non-ruble currency and has additional sources of income, the judge sets a specific amount of alimony, paid monthly or, very rarely, one time.

Necessary penalties

Sometimes, in case of delay in alimony payments, the recipient may ask for a penalty. To calculate it, you need to multiply the required amount of alimony by 0.5 and by the number of days in debt.

The alimony recipient will be required to repay the amount received along with legal costs.

However, the court may mitigate or completely cancel the sentence if it is proven that the delay in payments occurred due to the serious illness of the payer, difficult family circumstances, or the bankruptcy of the enterprise where the alimony worker worked.

Other penalties for defaulters

If the alimony evaders payments, he may face the following sanctions from the state:

• Ban on traveling abroad.
• Restrictions on the use of a driver's license.
• Deprivation of parental rights (based on a court hearing).

A few words in conclusion

As we can see, the issue of paying alimony is still acute and painful for many divorced couples.

The fact that spouses cannot agree and come to a common denominator should in no way affect the well-being of their children.

Therefore, the state has established such a concept as alimony, which can be awarded at a court hearing. Their amount may be increased or reduced according to objective reasons considered during the meeting.

Divorcing spouses have the right, by mutual agreement, to change the amount of alimony due by concluding an agreement and notarizing it.

How and up to what age is child support calculated?

How is child support calculated? Child support can be calculated in two ways:

• voluntary (agreement of both parties);
• through a court decision.

Voluntary agreement

Spouses can enter into an agreement between themselves of their own free will. It specifies the procedure for calculating alimony, and this agreement is certified by a notary at the notary office.

If it is not certified, it will not have legal force, and this may cause big problems.

When divorcing a marriage through the court, it is important to have this agreement, otherwise the judge will award alimony himself, and the preferences of the former spouses will not be taken into account.

The voluntary agreement of both parties must contain:

• how the alimony provider will pay, in money or property - this could be real estate, shares, transport, etc.;
• frequency of payments (once every two weeks, month, quarter and even once a year);
• amount of payment (usually ¼ of the payer’s income for one child, ⅓ for two children, ½ for three or more);
• the procedure for calculating payments (independently or through the enterprise where the alimony payer works);
• the amount of payment for special cases (this could be a child’s illness, fees for kindergarten, school or holidays: New Year, birthday and others).

If the parties fail to reach an agreement voluntarily, they will have to go to court, where a decision will be made based on the current legislation. It is better to resolve the issue of financial support for the child together with the claim for divorce. The contents of the claim must include:

• possible payment amount;
• justification for the exact amount to be paid;
• frequency of payment;
• the procedure for calculating payments;
• documents on the amount of income of both parties.

Many people wonder how much the fees start from and in what form. In Russia there are three possibilities for paying alimony:

1. In the form of a fixed amount. This is relevant when the payer is unemployed or an individual entrepreneur, or when the payer receives a salary in foreign currency or in the form of income in kind.
2. As a percentage of income. In this case, payments are calculated no less than ¼ of the payer’s profit for one child, ⅓ for two children, ½ for three or more. These amounts may vary depending on the payer's income. But the payer is obliged to support the spouse if she is on maternity leave. If alimony is paid to a disabled child, then, in addition to cash, other financial assistance should also be provided.
3. In the form of property (real estate, transport, shares, etc.).

If the required funds are not transferred, then a fine is imposed through the court - 0.5% of the debt amount for one day of non-payment. Often these funds come from wages, but not only. Alimony is also taken from the following types of income:

• from wages;
• scholarships;
• pensions;
• fees;
• bonuses;
• percent of housing rentals.

The second method is more complex, since the process will be monitored by the executor himself, that is, the payer. In this case, the funds will be accrued independently by the executive. This method is used in the following cases:

• when the alimony payer is unemployed or is an individual entrepreneur;
• when the alimony payer was ordered by bailiffs;
• when such a payment procedure was stipulated by a voluntary agreement or an agreement through the court.

There are three ways to receive funds:

• money transfer (for example, via Russian Post);
• natural equivalent (alimony is paid in the form of a fixed amount);
• non-cash payment (to the recipient's account or card).

In order to avoid problems for both parties in the future, it is important to save documents that indicate the dates and amounts confirming the fact of transfer of alimony by the payer to the recipient.

What income does not require child support? The payer can stop making payments, but to do this it will be necessary to go to court, where the rules of procedure will be established.

Alimony is also not withheld in cases that are agreed upon by both parties when concluding a voluntary agreement upon divorce.

Alimony from sick leave is paid unless otherwise provided in this agreement or there is no court decision.

In Russia there is a law “On Enforcement Proceedings”, which specifies all types of income from which alimony will not be withheld. These incomes include:

• monetary compensation that a person receives in connection with his travel work;
• compensation that a person receives in connection with his move for work to another region of the country;
• funds intended for repairs or acquisition of new tools with the help of which his work activity is or will be carried out;
• payments for therapeutic and preventive nutrition.

The Family Code of the Russian Federation states that the following social groups have the right to receive alimony payments:

• spouse during pregnancy; payments are assigned until the joint child reaches three years of age;
• a former spouse who is caring for a joint disabled child; this applies to cases of caring for a disabled person from childhood of group 1 and after adulthood, that is, after 18 years;
• disabled former spouse (only if he lost his ability to work during the marriage or within a year after the dissolution of the marriage contract);
• a former spouse who retired within five years after the dissolution of the marriage contract and needs financial assistance, that is, cash support;
• a low-income spouse who is disabled;
• adult children who are disabled;
• minor children for whom the parents' responsibilities for their maintenance are not fulfilled.

All of these listed groups have the right to receive alimony, but the payment procedure is different in each individual case.

If a voluntary agreement has not been drawn up, then the court will independently determine the amount of alimony. The size can be affected by:

• payer's income;
• recipient's income;
• marital status of both the payer and the recipient;
• the state of the payer, the recipient and the child himself.

The highest amount of payment for children is 50% of the income of the alimony payer. But in order to achieve such an amount of payments, it is necessary to go to court and clearly, clearly, and most importantly, correctly justify such expenses for the child.

Naturally, alimony payments cannot last forever. Therefore, there is a procedure for exemption from this obligation. It can be specified in the parents' agreement, or it can be achieved through the court, where the exact date for termination of payment will be determined.

A parent may be released from financial support of a child for the following reasons:

1. Termination due to the death of the payer or recipient of alimony. It is important to know that payments are not inherited.
2. The termination date under the contract has arrived.
3. The child reaches the age of eighteen. There may be nuances here, since in the future it will be possible to collect alimony for adult children.
4. The recipient of alimony entered into a new marriage.
5. If the recipient has regained his ability to work, but in this case a court decision will be needed.
6. if there is no need for payments, but only if this is formalized by a court order.

If alimony was for a normal minor child, then it ends upon the age of eighteen.

Also, payments may be stopped or reduced when the payer has other children or people whom he must take in for maintenance.

Loss of ability to work may also be an exemption from contributing money.

If the children begin to receive another permanent income, the payer may be exempt from their maintenance.

This can happen before they reach the age of majority if they began to engage in entrepreneurial activity, automatically receiving the status of an adult.

The amount of payments may be reduced if the recipient is placed in a special government institution where he is cared for.

How is child support calculated in 2023?

The main regulatory act by which alimony is calculated is the Family Code of the Russian Federation.

The calculation of alimony is regulated by Art. 81 of the Family Code of the Russian Federation. The amount of deductions depends on the number of children to whom maintenance must be paid:

• 25% of income if there is one child,
• 33% - for two children,
• 50% - for 3 or more children.

Enter the calculation data.

The basis for collecting alimony is a writ of execution or a notarial agreement on the payment of alimony. The amount of withholding is calculated depending on the amount of all income of the payer. Government Decree No. 841 of July 18, 1996 The following types of income are established:

• Monthly salary,
• Salary of a civil servant or municipal employee,
• Fees for media and creative professionals,
• Additional payments and salary supplements,
• Awards,
• Vacation pay,
• Salary for working on weekends.

If there are other sources of income other than hired work, income can be recognized as income from renting out premises, payments for work under contract agreements, performance of services, profit from individual entrepreneurial activity, etc. For more information about the amounts from which alimony is deducted, read on our website here

How calculations are made

Working citizens pay alimony based on wages. Unemployed people registered with the employment center pay a percentage of the accrued benefit. For those who are not registered with the Central Employment Service, alimony is calculated based on the minimum wage in the Russian Federation or in a fixed monetary amount.

The amount of child support depends on the number of children the payer has. An only child receives a quarter of the income, if there are two children, then they account for a third of the earnings, 16.5% per child, three or more - half of the total wages received for the billing period, that is, for the month. It is worth keeping in mind that if there are children from different marriages, the amount of alimony is divided equally between them.

The number of children a parent has to pay child support affects the amount of the calculation. Children from previous or subsequent marriages also have the right to alimony if such an obligation is established by the court.

How to use the calculator

To simplify the calculations, we present you with an online alimony calculator. To calculate you need:

1. Enter the amount of income of the spouse from whom alimony is planned to be withheld. You can take the income that is accrued before taxes are withheld.
2. The next step is to select the item on withholding personal income tax. If you entered the amount of wages that the payer receives in person, then personal income tax deduction is not required; if you indicated the accrual amount, then you must select “Yes” for the calculator to deduct tax.
3. Fill in the total number of children of the second spouse. This is necessary for the proportional calculation of the amount of alimony.
4. Indicate the number of common children for whom the calculation is made.
5. The last column will show the amount of alimony you will receive.

Calculation examples

Let's look at an example of calculating alimony in 2017 in our calculator.

Example 1

Given: The spouse's accrued wages amounted to 53,000 rubles.
He has three children, 1 from his first marriage and two in common. Fill in the columns of the calculator:
Salary of the second parent in rubles: 53,000.
Subtract personal income tax from the salary: select “Yes”.
Total number of children: 3.
Number of common children: 2.

The amount of alimony required was 15,370 rubles.

How is child support calculated?

The amount of alimony charged for child support often causes a lot of controversy. The spouse with whom the children remain would like to increase the amount of payments, and the alimony payer would like this amount to be within reasonable limits.

Let's find out how child support is calculated. The article will reveal the general principles of calculating alimony payments, but in each specific case there are a lot of nuances. We recommend using the help of lawyers to protect the rights of the child and your own.

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What is alimony? General principles for their calculation

Alimony is a mandatory monetary payment made by able-bodied family members to support disabled relatives. Alimony is prescribed in cases where relatives do not live together.

Children cannot earn money on their own to meet their needs, and the assignment of alimony for their maintenance is a frequent case.

However, alimony can also be assigned for the maintenance of adult relatives who are unable to work, in particular for the disabled.

There are three ways to calculate alimony for disabled relatives:

1. As a percentage of the income of the alimony payer.
2. In the form of a fixed amount of money.
3. In the form of a fixed amount and/or percentage of the payer’s income (mixed option).

When calculating child support, any of these options can be used. Child support for adults is assigned only in the form of a fixed amount of money, which can periodically increase by the amount of inflation.

Methods for determining the amount of child support

Every parent is obliged to support their minor children. If this duty is fulfilled properly, there should be no talk of collecting alimony at all.

The assignment of child support is not a mandatory procedure when a couple divorces. By mutual agreement of the spouses, this procedure can be avoided.

The reasons why in most cases alimony is still awarded are the following:

1. One of the parents avoids supporting the children and does not pay for their obligations.
2. A parent who does not live with the child wants to clearly determine what amount or percentage of income and within what time frame he is obliged to pay. Life goes on. Many enter into subsequent marriages. A clear understanding of your financial obligations to your children is an important part of planning your own budget as a child support payer.
3. The parent with whom the children live believes that the amount allocated by the second parent for their maintenance is insufficient. Quite often, parents' demands are excessive. Due to the parents’ disagreement on the amount required to support the child, each parent can demand alimony.

Nowadays, many couples do not formalize their relationship. This can cause problems when determining alimony payments.

In order to demand the assignment of alimony for the maintenance of children, it is first necessary to legally establish the fact of paternity, and sometimes motherhood. This can be done voluntarily or by court decision.

There are two options for assigning alimony: contractual and judicial.

Parents of children can agree on the amount of child support payments and come to an agreement. This agreement must be certified by a notary.

According to the agreement, payments are not necessarily monthly. The frequency of payments can be quarterly, semi-annually or even annually. A child cannot receive less under an agreement than he would receive in court.

If it is not possible to reach an agreement, the only way to resolve the conflict is in court. The court must set the amount of monthly payments.

Amount of alimony assigned for child support

Due to the fact that some parents are unemployed or do not have stable incomes, recently a fixed amount of child support is increasingly being established. A mixed system for calculating alimony payments may also be used, when the amount of alimony is determined as a percentage, but the amount of payments cannot be lower than the established one.

When determining a fixed payment amount, they are based on the minimum amount necessary to support a child of the appropriate age in the region of his residence. Children should receive no less than this amount. However, both parents are required to provide for their children. That is, half of this amount must be contributed by the parent with whom the child lives.

However, when deciding on the assignment of alimony in court, judges take into account the interests of the child. The amount of fixed child support payments assigned to a non-custodial parent may be significantly higher than half of the minimum amount required to support him. The courts believe that the child's standard of living should remain the same as if the marriage did not break up.

When determining the amount of alimony payments as a percentage of income, there are general rules:

• for one child - 25% of the income of a parent living separately;
• for two children - a third of his income;
• for three or more children - 50% of income.

However, when assigning interest payments, the court has the right to deviate from these rules. In this case, not only the interests of the child are taken into account, but also other circumstances, such as whether the payer has other children, the health status of all parties to the case, etc. That is, the court can either increase the percentage of income for assigning alimony or reduce it.

Not all amounts of money received by the payer are subject to alimony. The list of income from which alimony payments must be made is indicated in a special government List.

In the issue of paying child support, the interests of the children, the financial capabilities of his parents, as well as mutual grievances and claims of both parties are intertwined. When resolving contradictions, children's interests should be taken into account.

If parents cannot reach an agreement on their own, they should seek help from lawyers.

• Sources:
• List of income for alimony.
• Amount of alimony.