If the alimony obligee systematically fails to comply with the obligations to transfer money for the child's support, criminal liability arises for non-payment of alimony. This is possible at the initiative of the bailiff or the collector. To study all the nuances, you need to know the legislative features, procedure and grounds for attraction. This will also avoid negative consequences in the form of sentencing.
Is there criminal liability for non-payment of alimony?
If the non-payment is systematic and alimony was collected through bailiffs according to a writ of execution, criminal prosecution is possible. However, to do this, the bailiff himself must comply with a number of procedural nuances, because the groundless initiation of a criminal case is not allowed.
Some alimony payers deliberately quit their official jobs, thinking that lack of earnings will serve as a basis for exemption from paying alimony. In fact, this is not the case, and in such a situation a claim for the recovery of payments in a fixed amount may be filed.
Grounds for criminal prosecution
To attract a defaulter under Art. 157 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, he must be recognized as a willful defaulter. What is meant by this concept:
- intentional failure to pay child support for 4 months or more;
- concealment of property for forced collection to pay off debt;
- change of place of work, full name and other important data without informing the bailiff;
- deliberate concealment of real income;
- providing false information about earnings and employment;
- intentional evasion of payment after being brought to administrative responsibility.
It is important to take into account that failure to pay funds for more than 4 months and the use of preventive measures, if they were not followed by a backlash - repayment of the debt, is the main criterion for initiating a criminal case.
Let's look at a practical example:
Koskov V.V. is obliged to pay alimony for his son. Size – 15,000 rub. (fixed). The last payment was received on 05/05/2016.
The bailiff found that in May of the same year the payer quit his job (this is not a reason for exemption from alimony).
After his dismissal, V.V. Koskov was not registered with the Employment Center.
In August 2016, a warning was sent to his home address about prosecution under the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation if the debt is not repaid on time.
The debtor ignored the document, and in October he was ordered to perform 100 hours of compulsory work by court decision. He complied with the requirements, but did not repay the debt.
In July 2017, the child’s mother filed an application with the FSSP to bring the alimony obligee to criminal liability.
The basis was long-term non-payment (more than 4 months) and the malicious nature of the offense, since previously under Art. 5.35.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, compulsory work was assigned.
This is also important to know: How to avoid paying alimony in a legal way?
Types of criminal punishment
Art. 157 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation determines that parents and able-bodied children are held liable for non-payment of alimony if they are assigned an alimony obligation to support disabled parents.
What sanctions can be applied:
part 1 Part 2| Systematic failure to pay alimony for the maintenance of minors or adult disabled children in the absence of valid reasons |
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| Repeated failure to pay money to disabled parents by adult children without extenuating circumstances |
Procedure for criminal prosecution
The procedure for bringing to justice under the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is carried out as follows:
- The bailiff receives a request to bring him to the management authority from the claimant. He reviews the documents, then, guided by Art. 12 Federal Law dated July 21, 1997 No. 118-FZ, identifies signs of a crime and draws up a message addressed to the head of the FSSP investigation body.
- The investigator carries out investigative actions to identify the corpus delicti, which is the basis for prosecution. If the debtor does not respond to warnings about initiating a criminal case, he makes an appropriate decision on the occurrence of a criminal case.
- Case materials are prepared and submitted to the prosecutor's office. The investigation is given 1 month.
- The prosecution is represented by a prosecutor or other authorized person.
- The judge makes a decision to schedule a preliminary hearing or court hearing within 30 days from the date of receipt of the case materials.
- The court issues a decision to schedule a court hearing. It must be carried out no later than 14 days from the date of issue (Article 233 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation).
In the future, the total period for consideration of the case depends on many circumstances. The main task of the court is to objectively study the documentation, arguments of the prosecution and defense.
According to Art. 389.4 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation, the parties to the proceedings may file an appeal against the verdict within 10 days from the date of submission. An appeal is made to a higher court.
Appealing a verdict in a criminal case
According to Art. 389.1 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation, the convicted person or the prosecutor can appeal the verdict on appeal. How it's done:
- The appeal or presentation is sent to the court that issued the sentence (Article 389.3 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation).
- The court notifies the parties to the proceedings about the existence of a complaint, transfers the documents to a higher authority - the district judicial body.
- The case is considered no later than 15 days from the date of registration of the complaint.
- A resolution is drawn up to leave the sentence unchanged or to send the case for a new trial.
To appeal a court verdict on appeal, 10 calendar days are allotted. There are no time limits for appealing to the cassation court.
Initiation of a criminal case for non-payment of alimony
In general, the process of bringing the authorities to justice for evading alimony looks like this:
- The claimant draws up an application and submits to the bailiff documents confirming the fact of non-payment.
- If there are grounds, the bailiff sends the debtor a notice of possible consequences with a requirement to repay the debt within 30 calendar days.
- If the debtor fails to comply with the requirements, a report is drawn up, and the case materials are transferred to the investigator.
- The investigator, after a series of procedural actions, transfers the case to the prosecutor's office.
- The hearing takes place in the Magistrates' Court.
- As a result, a verdict is passed to prosecute under Art. 157 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Sanctions depend on the severity of the crime. If it is committed repeatedly, the most stringent measures provided for by law are applied.
Important! If the bailiff is unable to establish the location of the property and the debtor himself, bring it under Art. 157 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation will not work. The reason is the lack of possibility of notification demanding payment of the debt properly. If the alimony obligee does not receive it, but the case is taken to court, the lawyer can easily prove the procedural violation by the bailiff himself.
Required documents
When submitting a petition to initiate a criminal settlement, the claimant provides a passport and a writ of execution (IL). It is recommended to pre-order a debt settlement - it is issued in the form of a resolution. You will also need a bank account statement indicating that there has been no receipt of money for a long time.
This is also important to know: Imprisonment for non-payment of alimony
Statement of claim
According to Art. 50 Federal Law No. 229, the claimant has the right to petition to initiate criminal proceedings. To do this, they draw up a statement containing the following information:
- name and address of the FSSP;
- Full name and position of the bailiff to whom the application is sent;
- Full name, registration address and telephone number of the claimant;
- Full name of the debtor, individual entrepreneur number;
- the basis for initiating an individual entrepreneur is a court decision;
- grounds for liability under the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation: long-term non-payment of alimony with an indication of the exact period, amount of debt, lack of official employment of the debtor, dismissal from a previous place of work without warning the bailiff;
- date of compilation and signature.
Ekaterina Derzhavina
Assistance in drawing up statements of claim and other legal documents
The petition is drawn up in 2 copies. One is transferred to the FSSP employee, who is obliged to redirect it to the authorized bailiff within 3 days from the date of receipt. The second one with a note of acceptance remains with the claimant.
State duty amount
Filing a petition is equivalent to reporting a criminal offense, therefore consideration of the case at any stage is not subject to state duty.
Arbitrage practice
Most often, the prosecution manages to convince the court that the defendant committed guilty actions, and he is brought to trial by sentencing. Obligations to pay the debt are not canceled.
Let's look at the example of the Judgment of the Magistrate dated December 10, 2015 in Samara:
The court order was issued in November 2014, the alimony payer is an unemployed citizen with no previous convictions. He is obliged to pay 25% of all income monthly for the maintenance of his daughter.
The payer did not fulfill the established obligations and was brought to administrative responsibility. At the end of September 2015, the ex-wife contacted the bailiff with a request to be brought to the criminal justice system.
Previously, the FSSP employee sent relevant notifications to the debtor.
The duration of non-payment was 10 months and 9 days, the amount was 93,512 rubles. 34 kopecks
During the proceedings, the defendant admitted his guilt and filed a motion to consider the case in a special manner. As a result, the court sentenced him to 4 months of correctional labor with a deduction of 5% of his earnings in favor of the state. The court also considered that the defendant could subsequently improve and imposed a suspended sentence with a probationary period of six months.
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To legally avoid criminal liability, it is enough to pay off the debt. In this case, when committing a crime for the first time, the debtor will be required to pay a court fine (Article 76.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).
This is also important to know: Average alimony payments in Russia
There is another option - concluding a settlement agreement with the plaintiff to repay the debt. It should be taken into account that along with the debt you will have to pay a penalty in the amount of 0.1% for each day of delay.
The third method involves an application for exemption from criminal liability if a debt arises without the fault of the alimony payer.
What reasons could there be:
- illness of the payer, disability;
- the birth of a child in a new family, as a result of which the financial situation has significantly worsened;
- the emergence of new dependents from among close relatives;
- lack of earnings is not the fault of the person obligated to pay alimony.
Each case is considered individually. The content of the sentence depends on the circumstances of the case.
Lawyer's answers to questions about criminal liability for non-payment of alimony
Is the debt written off when criminal liability is applied?
No. The grounds for exemption from alimony obligations are specified in Art. 120 of the RF IC, and involvement in the Criminal Code is not included here. If subsequently the debtor does not repay the debt in the prescribed manner and the bailiff does not take any measures, the debtor may file a complaint about the inaction of an authorized FSSP employee to a senior manager.
How long after administrative liability will a criminal case be initiated?
The main criterion for attraction to the MA is long-term non-payment. Usually this is 4 months or more. If the debtor was prosecuted under the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, but did not repay the debt, the debtor has the right to petition to initiate a criminal case at any time.
Is the plaintiff required to be present at the hearing?
Necessarily, otherwise the court may make a decision to terminate the criminal case on the basis of Part 3 of Art. 249 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation. Failure to appear for valid reasons is also allowed, but they will have to be proven. If you cannot attend the meeting, it is recommended to send an application to consider the case without the participation of the plaintiff, citing valid reasons for failure to appear.
What happens if you violate a court-ordered correctional labor order?
Based on Part 4 of Art. 50 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the court can replace correctional labor with forced labor or deprive the convicted person of freedom. In the latter case, one day of deprivation is equivalent to 3 days of work. Replacement is made at the request of the institution in which the convicted person was supposed to serve his sentence.
Is it possible to be re-involved with the educational institution for non-payment of alimony?
Yes, it's possible. Everything is done in the order presented above, but if the court is involved again, more serious sanctions provided for in Art. 157 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
Is it possible to attract to the MA without going through the administrative process?
No. One of the main conditions is compliance with preventive measures, and this is liability under the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation.
Is it possible to bring to the educational institution for failure to pay deprived of parental rights?
Deprivation of parental rights does not entail the termination of child support obligations, with the exception of cases of adoption of a child. If the debtor is recognized as malicious, he is subject to the RA.
Can the criminal punishment of a parent affect the child’s employment in law enforcement in the future?
By law, children are not responsible for crimes committed by their parents. But actually getting a job in a number of government agencies will be problematic for a child whose father has a criminal record. The most stringent requirements are imposed by the FSB, the Russian National Guard and other law enforcement agencies.
Can they be jailed for failure to pay child support?
Yes. In case of evasion of previously prescribed correctional labor, the court may replace it with a real term of up to 1 year.
It is important to know!
- Each case is individual and requires special attention. The information presented on the site is general and does not guarantee a solution to your specific problem.
- We carefully monitor changes in legislation and try to make changes in a timely manner, but this does not always happen quickly.
Therefore, 24-hour legal assistance on any issues is available to you FREE OF CHARGE! Ask your question right now!
Criminal liability for evasion of alimony payments
Often, alimony collectors cannot influence debtors and wonder whether there is criminal liability for non-payment of alimony . At the same time, defaulters may not take the consequences of the debt seriously and believe that they can avoid paying it, for example, by quitting their official job or changing their place of residence.
Criminal liability cannot be applied to the debtor immediately at the request of the recipient of the funds. It is important to fulfill a number of conditions (the malicious nature of non-payment, the presence of a certain period of alimony arrears) in order to attract the alimony provider to such a punishment.
However, if necessary, to petition for the initiation of criminal proceedings by submitting a corresponding application to the bailiff - you can see a sample petition below .
The Criminal Code (CC) of the Russian Federation provides for various types of punishments for non-payers of alimony: from arrest for up to 3 months to imprisonment for up to 1 year. The process of bringing a debtor to criminal liability occurs within the framework of the law, with the mandatory participation of bailiffs.
Types of punishments for a willful defaulter under Art. 157 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation
If a citizen deliberately hides from alimony obligations and is a malicious defaulter, he may be brought to criminal liability under Art. 157 of the Criminal Code (CC) of the Russian Federation in the form of:
- corrective labor for up to 1 year;
- forced labor for up to 1 year;
- arrest up to 3 months;
- imprisonment for up to 1 year.
The consequences of bringing a defaulter to criminal liability and having a criminal record can be extremely unpleasant not only for the debtor himself, but also for his child: a parent’s criminal record can make it impossible to serve in government agencies or the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
The Criminal Code mentions mandatory administrative and civil measures against the evader, which precede criminal ones. That is, it is impossible to bring the debtor to criminal liability immediately without applying less stringent measures.
There are a large number of measures applied to the debtor before the onset of criminal liability: from revocation of a driver’s license and seizure of property to a ban on leaving the country and deprivation of parental rights.
Read about all the liability measures applied to debtors in the article
→ Liability for non-payment of alimony ←
If the collector of funds, who has not received awarded alimony from the payer for a long time, wishes to bring the defaulter to criminal liability, the bailiff must consider a number of features of this enforcement proceeding and evaluate:
- The nature of the non-payment - it must be deliberate (deliberate), created by the payer specifically for the purpose of avoiding payment of funds.
- The nature of the evasion is malicious, that is, a systematic, long-term evasion from paying alimony solely through the fault of the defaulter, containing a number of actions aimed at the impossibility of collecting funds from him in favor of the claimant.
Paragraph 11 of the “Methodological recommendations on the procedure for fulfilling the requirements of writs of execution for the collection of alimony” clearly lists obvious signs of malice:
- deliberate failure to comply with the requirements of the writ of execution for a long time;
- concealment of real income;
- concealment of property that may be subject to foreclosure;
- change of place of residence without informing the collector or bailiff;
- entering incorrect personal data (for example, full name);
- changing the workplace without informing the bailiff;
- parasitism (i.e. deliberate non-employment);
- the absence of an unemployed debtor being registered as unemployed at the employment center;
- providing false information about your income and property;
- continuation of evasion after administrative measures and a warning by the bailiff about possible criminal prosecution.
The presence of a combination of the listed factors, together with arrears of alimony for more than 4 months, allows us to consider the debtor as a potentially criminally punishable person in accordance with Art. 157 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
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Bringing a debtor to criminal liability is still not an easy task for both the bailiff and the debt collector. The fact is that the legislation provides for a rather complex work scheme that precedes the implementation of Art. 157 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which, moreover, should be based on judicial practice in this category of cases in the region.
To hold a debtor criminally liable, the following officials must work closely together:
- bailiff;
- investigator of the FSSP Department;
- senior bailiff.
The collecting party can also directly influence the course of the case by:
- petitions to bring the defaulter to criminal liability;
- mandatory explanation to the bailiff the following questions:
- since when there have been no payments;
- Are the reasons for non-payment of funds known?
- is there information about the place of residence or stay of the defaulter, his place of work and the property at his disposal;
- availability of other assistance from the debtor to pay off alimony.
Petition to bring the alimony debtor to criminal liability
Below is a sample application (petition) to the bailiff service to bring the alimony debtor to criminal liability under Art. 157 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
In turn, the bailiff, the investigator of the Federal Bailiff Service, the senior bailiff, within the limits of their official rights and duties, carry out the following procedure for bringing to criminal liability:
- Determine the risk group for criminal prosecution of enforcement proceedings, the debt for which is more than 2 months.
- Cases that are promising for initiating criminal proceedings are identified, that is, those where there is evidence of deliberate disregard for payments.
- The evader is warned about possible criminal prosecution.
A warning about criminal liability for non-payment of alimony must be issued in writing and sent to the debtor, and after a month - duplicated and again communicated to the defaulter.
Example. Olga K. initiated enforcement proceedings based on a court decision against her ex-husband Sergei K. During the year, Sergei K. paid awarded payments in the amount of 1/4 of his official earnings, then quit his job, was deregistered at his place of residence and disappeared . Alimony debt accumulated over 5 months.
At the request of the claimant (Olga), Sergei K. was put on the executive wanted list; property belonging to Sergei for foreclosure on him was not identified. Due to the lack of payments and the resulting debt, Olga K. filed a petition to bring Sergei to criminal liability under Art. 157 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
However, due to the fact that the debtor was wanted and his whereabouts were unknown, this measure could not be applied due to the impossibility of mandatory warning to the defaulter that he would be held criminally liable.
Thus, criminal liability for non-payment of alimony is a last resort measure and is used in cases where other methods of influencing the debtor have no results .
Criminal liability for evasion of alimony payments
According to statistics, every third alimony collector sooner or later faces the problem of alimony debt - failure to pay the required funds for the maintenance of a needy person or their payment in an incomplete established amount. Evasion of alimony payments entails many sanctions for defaulters: from civil liability to administrative and even criminal measures.
If, in the process of conducting enforcement alimony proceedings, the bailiff proves the intentional nature of the non-payment of funds, the extreme measure of liability may be to bring the debtor to Art. 157 of the Criminal Code (CC) of the Russian Federation.
Bringing a debtor to criminal liability is possible only if the following conditions are met:
- in case of intentional (malicious) evasion of payment of funds;
- after using the full range of administrative measures against the defaulter;
- after repeatedly warning the debtor about the occurrence of criminal liability (at least 2 times) against signature;
- after taking a written explanation from the draft dodger about the reason for the debt.
In addition, the initial mandatory condition for bringing to criminal liability is the initiation of enforcement proceedings for alimony , since only an official - a bailiff - is authorized to carry out this process with the mandatory involvement of a senior bailiff of the department and an investigator of the Office of the Federal Bailiff Service (UFSSP).
When does criminal liability arise for non-payment of alimony?
The main reason for bringing an alimony-obliged person to this kind of liability is long-term complete non-payment of alimony established by a writ of execution or a notarial agreement.
The concept of “duration” in this case:
- firstly, it implies systematic omissions of payments;
- secondly, it provides for non-payment of alimony for at least 4 months in a row.
Moreover, non-payment of alimony must occur in the presence of the debtor’s fault (his direct intent), and the nature of the evasion must have signs of malice.
Signs of malicious evasion of alimony obligations are:
- concealment of real income;
- change of place of residence or place of work without warning the recoverer of funds or the bailiff;
- concealment of property that could be seized to pay off a debt;
- change of surname, name and patronymic to avoid the application of measures of alimony liability;
- deliberate non-employment and failure to register with the employment center for the purpose of applying for a job;
- providing the bailiff with knowingly false information about income and property;
- lack of personal and telephone contact with the recoverer of funds or the bailiff, ignoring subpoenas of the Federal Bailiff Service;
- continued evasion of alimony obligations after the application of administrative measures.
Types of criminal penalties for alimony debts
According to Art. 157 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, measures of criminal liability applied to debtors may include:
- Correctional labor for up to 1 year.
- Forced labor for a similar period.
- Arrest for up to 3 months.
- Imprisonment for up to 1 year.
We remind you that these measures can only be applied to a person if:
- there is a systematic repeated failure to pay required alimony;
- the debt is formed solely through the fault of the debtor and is intentional;
- the defaulter is not on the executive wanted list and has been warned of criminal liability;
- all possible administrative penalties were previously applied to the defaulter.
Rules of Art. 157 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation applies to debtors of alimony for children and parents; criminal liability for debts in relation to spouses/ex-spouses and other needy persons is not provided.
The consequences of criminal prosecution are extremely unfavorable for the debtor: having a criminal record affects the hiring process, the inability to hold certain positions in the civil service, and restrictions are placed on the person when obtaining a visa and international passport. Moreover, malicious failure to pay alimony can become a direct reason for depriving the debtor of parental rights in relation to the child (if we are talking about evasion of payment of funds for a minor) in accordance with Art. 69 of the Family Code of the Russian Federation.
How to prosecute for non-payment of alimony?
The alimony holder is, of course, not a criminal, so bringing him to criminal liability is not an easy matter even for authorized officials. A fairly extensive work of the bailiff, the investigator and the head of the department of the Federal Bailiff Service must be carried out with the “dodger”, prior to the application of the criminal norm:
- repeated calls to a person for an appointment through:
- going to your home, place of work, or visiting relatives (about which employees draw up written reports that are filed in the case file);
- telephone calls;
- directions of agendas;
- taking explanations from the claimant about the duration of non-payment;
-
repeated application of administrative measures:
- putting the debtor and his property on the wanted list (Article 65 of Federal Law No. 229-FZ “On Enforcement Proceedings” dated October 2, 2007, hereinafter referred to as Federal Law No. 229);
- sending orders to banks and other credit organizations for the purpose of seizing funds in accounts (Article 70 of Federal Law No. 229);
- imposing a ban on travel outside the Russian Federation (Article 67 of Federal Law No. 229);
- restriction of the debtor’s use of a special right, or “blocking” a driver’s license (Article 67.1 of Federal Law No. 229);
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bringing to responsibility under Art. 5.35.1 Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation:
- compulsory work for up to 150 hours;
- administrative arrest for a period of 10 to 15 days.
Bringing a person to criminal liability for failure to pay alimony should be based on existing judicial practice in this category of cases, but it is not extensive enough. Moreover, in order for a person to be brought to criminal liability, he must be personally notified of this by an official at least twice, against signature.
Preparation for bringing the debtor to Art. 157 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is carried out in close working interaction of three groups of positions of the Federal Bailiff Service:
- bailiff conducting specific proceedings;
- interrogator;
- senior bailiff (i.e., head of the department of the Federal Bailiff Service).
At the same time, the initial basis for enforcement proceedings that have the prospect of bringing to criminal liability is prepared by the bailiff:
- deals with a selection of cases for which the debt is more than 2 months (the so-called “risk group” cases);
- warns the debtor in writing about the possible occurrence of criminal liability (notification letters, telephone communications). If the notification of the possible occurrence of liability did not give any reaction on the part of the defaulter, the warning is duplicated after a month.
If an evader is put on the executive wanted list for non-payment of alimony, it is impossible to bring him to criminal liability due to his actual absence and the impossibility of carrying out administrative penalties against him.
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