Alimony obligations for child support: problems and prospects for improvement. Legal assistance of a lawyer in resolving such cases
Students Name: Kmet Maksym Olehovych
Qualification Level: magister
Speciality: Law
Institute: Institute of Jurisprudence and Psychology
Mode of Study: part
Academic Year: 2020-2021 н.р.
Language of Defence: ukrainian
Abstract: Kmet M. O., Zabolotna N. Y. (supervisor). Alimony obligations to maintain child: problems and prospects for improvement. Legal aid of a lawyer to resolve such cases. Master’s thesis. – Lviv Polytechnic National University, Lviv, 2020. Extended abstract. According to the Law of Ukraine "On Protection of Childhood" [1], every child has the right to a standard of living sufficient for his or her physical, intellectual, moral, spiritual, cultural and social development. The obligation to maintain a child until he or she reaches the age of majority is set out in part two of Article 51 of the Constitution of Ukraine [2] and Article 180 of the Family Code of Ukraine [3]. Despite the legislation, which stipulates the obligation of parents to maintain their children, a large number of them are dishonest in fulfilling this duty and try to evade it, which leads to the need to enforce the collection of funds in favor of the child. Therefore, the issue of liability for non-performance or improper payment of alimony in our country is extremely acute. As a result, there is a need to analyze the current legislation governing the legal relationship in the field of alimony obligations to maintain child, the procedure for recovery of alimony, as well as consideration of the participation of a lawyer in cases in this area. Study object - is the social relations regarding the maintenance of children, as well as the legal relationship between the client and the lawyer in resolving such cases. Scope of research - is alimony obligations to maintain child, identification of problems and prospects in this area, as well as the role and participation of a lawyer in resolving such disputes. Goal of research: The purpose of the master’s qualification work is a comprehensive analysis of alimony obligations to maintain child, identification and study of problems and consideration of prospects for improvement, as well as research into the specifics of providing legal assistance to a lawyer in resolving such cases. Briefly put the research results. A review of the theoretical, legal and methodological foundations of the study of the legal regulation of alimony obligations to maintain child was conducted. Therefore, the legal characteristics of alimony obligations to maintain child are described, in the framework of which the essence and concept of alimony obligations to maintain child, the grounds for the emergence and termination of alimony obligations to maintain child are investigated. The main features of alimony obligations to maintain child are highlighted. The definition of "alimony obligations of parents to maintain child" is formulated, which should be understood as legal relations arising on the basis of the child’s descent from the parents and a court decision or contract to maintain child, under which one party (alimony payer) is obliged to provide in favor of the recipient of alimony (the person in whose name the alimony is paid) provision in cash and (or) in kind in the interests of the child until he reaches the age of majority, and the other party has the right to demand this obligation [4, p. 74]. The evolution and current state of normative-legal regulation of alimony obligations to maintain child in Ukraine are considered. The fulfillment of alimony obligations of parents to maintain child, which is carried out voluntarily and compulsorily, has been studied. The role and procedure for providing legal assistance to a lawyer in resolving alimony obligations to maintain child is defined. Adequate and admissible evidence base is a priority task that lawyers work on, regardless of the party they represent in the litigation of this category of cases. The lawyer must assist the plaintiff in gathering the necessary documents and in determining the adequate amount of alimony claimed by the plaintiff. On the defendant’s side, the lawyer must take care of the evidence that proves the high and sufficient level of material maintain of the child, the defendant’s illness, the presence of other persons, whom he is also obliged by law to maintain [5, p. 169]. The actual procedure for recovery of alimony, the process of execution of court decisions on the recovery of alimony to maintain child in both general and in special cases has been studied. The paper also analyzes the legal decisions on court cases: on the recovery of alimony from one of the parents in favor of the one with whom the child’s place of residence was determined; on increasing or decreasing the amount of alimony; on the appeal of alimony payers to the court with a complaint on recognition of illegal and cancellation of resolutions of the state executor on establishment of temporary restriction of the debtor in the right to leave Ukraine and on imposition on him of the penalty for non-execution of the court decision; on appealing to the court to cancel the decision on recovery of alimony to maintain child, etc. The paper provides a detailed review with relevant comments of several court decisions and the Resolution of the Supreme Court of Ukraine. It is proposed to establish the amount of alimony for natural persons-entrepreneurs who carry out their activities under the simplified taxation system, depending on the group of single taxpayers, and determine alimony arrears for the alimony payer who did not work at the time of arrears, taking into account the employee’s qualifications. The solution to the issue of determining alimony in a fixed amount of money is proposed by linking the amount of alimony to the subsistence level of a child of the appropriate age, rather than setting a fixed amount of money. The practical significance of the obtained research results lies in the possibility of further use of the developed proposals and conclusions: in legislative activity - in the field of improving the family legislation of Ukraine; in research activities - in conducting further research in the field of family law, in particular on issues related to the topic of this master’s thesis; in law enforcement activities - during the consideration of family cases, in particular both in the work of courts and in the work of lawyers, as well as in the process of preparation of scientific and practical comments to the IC of Ukraine; in educational and methodical work - when teaching academic disciplines related to family law and family legal relations and when preparing educational and methodical materials on such disciplines. Key words:alimony, alimony obligations to maintain child, legal aid, lawyer, recovery of alimony, agreement between parents about child maintenance, judicial practice, family law liability. References. 1. On Protection of Childhood: Law of Ukraine on April 26, 2001 № 2402-III. URL: https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/2402-14#Text. 2. The Constitution of Ukraine on June 28, 1996 № 254к/96-ВР. URL: https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/254%D0%BA/96-%D0%B2%D1%80#Text. 3. The Family Code of Ukraine on January 10, 2002 № 2947-III. URL: https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/2947-14/conv#Text. 4. Khanovych Y. D.(2019). Legal regulation of parental maintenance obligations towards children.: the Thesis for the degree of Candidate of Juridical Sciences: 12.00.03. Kyiv. 229 p. 5. Pylypiv R. O. (2020). Implementation of administrative liability for non-payment of alimony. Entrepreneurship, economy and law.P. 168-172. DOIhttps://doi.org/10.32849/2663-5313/2020.4.28.