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Parents who have provided help and care to their children since infancy also need support and attention.
The current family legislation of most countries, including the Russian Federation, imposes an obligation on parents to support their children, both minors and disabled adults. In turn, the RF IC does not provide for responsibilities for minor children as such. Their existence is only assumed in the form of counter-responsibilities of parents, which cannot be said about adult children. The responsibilities of adult children to support their parents are clearly formulated and reflected in Article 87 of the RF IC.
Disabled parents
Parents who have provided help and care to their children since infancy also need support and attention. First of all, this concerns parents who, in accordance with the law, are recognized as:
- Persons of retirement age. Today these are women 55 years and older and men 60 years and older;
- Persons with disabilities of groups I or II.
In rare cases, a disabled parent of group III may apply for financial support if, due to his disability, the latter cannot find a paid job, which is recommended for him by a medical report.
And the RF IC, establishing the obligations of adult children to support their parents, is primarily aimed at protecting the rights of disabled elderly parents.
Conditions for the emergence of alimentary obligations
Taking into account the facts of improper relationships between children and parents, the legislator tried to formalize the rights of both to receive maintenance.
Since the law cannot force people to show love and support, it regulated the material side of this issue. When the legislator establishes any legal relations between citizens, he lists the conditions for their emergence. For example, when talking about the responsibility of parents to support children, the following factors are called:
- family ties;
- minor age of children.
The presence of these grounds puts the mother and father in a position of obligation towards their children. By regulating the fulfillment of the obligations of children in relation to their parents in the Family Code, the legislator provides for their occurrence if the following conditions are met:
- Those in need of help are people of retirement age or disabled people of the 1st or 2nd group.
- They require additional financial support as they are unable to provide for themselves.
- Children are adults and recognized as able to work.
Only the combination of these factors gives rise to the child’s alimentary obligations to his parents. Disabled people of the third group are sometimes recognized as needing financial support from their children. This happens in situations where they cannot find a job that is suitable for them due to their existing illness.
A citizen can be recognized as needing help when his income is less than the subsistence minimum, or he needs expensive treatment.
For this legal norm, it is important that a person reaches old age, that is, according to the law, he is considered unable to provide for himself with his own labor.
This age is equivalent to retirement age. For the female half of the population it is now 55 years old, for the male half it is 60 years old. It was from this period that Russian citizens became pensioners. If parents are disabled, their age does not matter. If we talk about citizens liable for alimony, we should remember:
- According to Russian legislation, the obligations of adult children to support their parents arise only after they reach the age of 18.
- The laws of the Russian Federation do not provide for the obligation of minor children to support their parents.
Some legal scholars in their comments defend the view that minor but emancipated children working under an employment contract, or citizens recognized as legally competent due to marriage, can support their parents.
Despite the apparent fairness of this interpretation, the legislator does not impose an obligation on people of the named categories to financially help their mother or father. It can only be their free will.
Speaking about ability to work, the law does not provide for the possibility of canceling the obligation to pay alimony in old age if a citizen is unemployed. The very fact that a person can work and earn an income is important.
Obligation of children to support parents
The obligations of adult children to support their parents arise from the counter-obligation imposed on parents to support their children under 18 years of age, and in some other cases that are exceptions. Theoretically, these counter-responsibilities should be fulfilled on a voluntary basis, since the very institution of family presupposes mutual understanding, support, including material, care, etc.
But it does not always turn out that parents voluntarily fulfill their parental duty, and it is not always the case that adult, able-bodied children want to fulfill their responsibilities to the parents who raised them, even if they are elderly, and their age has already exceeded 70 years, and provide for themselves and according to the laws of biology, they cannot provide adequate service.
When children do not consciously support their parents, the legal mechanism for protecting the rights of parents comes into play. The law and the RF IC in particular oblige not only to show care towards disabled parents, but also to provide them with financial support. In this case, the financial condition of the able-bodied child is not taken into account.
Disabled parents may not always qualify for financial assistance from their children. To assign child support, it must be established that the parents are in need of financial assistance. This need is usually confirmed when:
- Parents do not receive a pension;
- The size of the pension received by parents is small, for example, below the established minimum subsistence level.
The RF IC provides for the obligation of children to support their parents for the following categories of children:
- Adults and able-bodied;
- Adults and disabled people whose parents have been recognized in court as needy;
- Minor children who have income and have voluntarily accepted obligations to support their parents financially.
Case N1304-O.
Laws and codes » Family Code of the Russian Federation » Section V. Alimony obligations of family members » Chapter 13. Alimony obligations of parents and children » Article 87. Obligations of adult children to support their parents » Case N1304-O. CONSTITUTIONAL COURT OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
DEFINITION
dated June 23, 2021 N 1304-O
ABOUT REFUSAL TO ACCEPT A CITIZEN'S COMPLAINT FOR CONSIDERATION
SEMENOV VITALY VASILIEVICH FOR VIOLATION OF IT
CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS IN PARAGRAPHS 1 - 4 OF ARTICLE 87 AND ARTICLE 117
FAMILY CODE OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
The Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, composed of Chairman V.D. Zorkin, judges K.V. Aranovsky, A.I. Boytsova, N.S. Bondar, G.A. Gadzhieva, Yu.M. Danilova, L.M. Zharkova, G.A. Zhilina, S.M. Kazantseva, M.I. Cleandrova, S.D. Knyazeva, A.N. Kokotova, S.P. Mavrina, N.V. Melnikova, Yu.D. Rudkina, O.S. Khokhryakova,
having considered, at the request of citizen V.V. Semenov’s question about the possibility of accepting his complaint for consideration at a meeting of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation,
installed:
1. By a decision of a court of general jurisdiction, the requirements against citizen V.V. were partially satisfied. Semenov for the recovery of alimony for the maintenance of a disabled parent, presented by his mother. By the ruling of the appellate court, this court decision was changed in terms of the amount of alimony to be collected.
In his complaint to the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, V.V. Semenov challenges the constitutionality of the following provisions of the Family Code of the Russian Federation applied in his case:
Article 87, according to which able-bodied adult children are obliged to support and take care of their disabled parents in need of help (paragraph 1); in the absence of an agreement on the payment of alimony, alimony for disabled parents in need of help is collected from able-bodied adult children in court (paragraph 2); the amount of alimony collected from each child is determined by the court based on the financial and marital status of the parents and children and other noteworthy interests of the parties in a fixed sum of money payable monthly (clause 3); when determining the amount of alimony, the court has the right to take into account all able-bodied adult children of a given parent, regardless of whether the claim is made against all children, one of them, or several of them (clause 4);
Article 117, according to which the bailiff, as well as the organization or other person to whom the executive document is sent in the case established by Part 1 of Article 9 of the Federal Law of October 2, 2007 N 229-FZ “On Enforcement Proceedings”, carry out indexation of alimony, recovered by a court decision in a fixed sum of money, in proportion to the increase in the cost of living for the corresponding socio-demographic group of the population established in the relevant constituent entity of the Russian Federation at the place of residence of the person receiving alimony; in the absence of the specified value in the corresponding constituent entity of the Russian Federation, this indexation is carried out in proportion to the increase the cost of living for the corresponding socio-demographic group of the population as a whole in the Russian Federation (point 1); the amount of alimony collected by a court decision in a fixed sum of money, for the purpose of indexation, is established by the court as a multiple of the subsistence level determined in accordance with the rules of paragraph 1 of this article, including the amount of alimony can be established as a share of the subsistence level (paragraph 2 ) .
According to the applicant, the contested norms contradict Articles 4 (part 2), 15 (parts 1, 2 and 4), 17 (part 1), 19 (part 1), 45 (part 1), 46 (part 1) and 47 ( part 1) of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, since they do not allow the case to be considered in the court and by the judge to whose jurisdiction it is assigned by law.
2. The Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, having studied the submissions of V.V. Semenov materials, finds no grounds for accepting his complaint for consideration.
Considered in a systematic connection, the provisions of Articles 87 (paragraphs 1 - 4) and 117 of the Family Code of the Russian Federation, establishing the obligation of able-bodied adult children to support their disabled parents in need of help, take care of them and the rules for determining the amount of alimony collected by court decision in a fixed amount and their indexation is aimed at ensuring a balance of interests of both parties to the alimony relationship and maintaining the required standard of living for both the recipient and the alimony payer.
Thus, these legal provisions, which, contrary to the opinion of the applicant, do not regulate the jurisdiction of cases on the recovery of alimony from able-bodied adult children for the maintenance of their disabled parents in need of help, cannot be considered as violating his constitutional rights in the aspect specified in the complaint.
Determining the jurisdiction of specific cases, including cases involving V.V. Semenov, is associated with the establishment and study of the factual circumstances of a particular case, which does not apply to the powers of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, as defined in Article 125 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation and Article 3 of the Federal Constitutional Law “On the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation”.
Based on the above and guided by part two of article 40, paragraph 2 of article 43, part one of article 79, articles 96 and 97 of the Federal Constitutional Law “On the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation”, the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation
defined:
1. Refuse to accept for consideration the complaint of citizen Vitaly Vasilyevich Semenov, since it does not meet the requirements of the Federal Constitutional Law “On the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation”, according to which the complaint to the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation is considered admissible.
2. The ruling of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation on this complaint is final and not subject to appeal.
Chairman
Constitutional Court
Russian Federation
V.D.ZORKIN
The procedure for collecting alimony from children
The RF IC gives several options for resolving the issue of children maintaining their parents:
- Voluntary out-of-court;
- Judicial.
The first involves concluding an agreement. The form of the agreement is arbitrary and contains the procedure for providing assistance. An agreement is signed by two parties, one with children and the other with parents, in a number equal to the number of parties to the agreement. Notarization is not mandatory, but it will not be superfluous either. This method is also suitable for taking on child support obligations by a minor child who, despite the age group from 14 to 17 years, has his own independent income and shows conscientiousness towards his parents, helping them and their maintenance.
The second option is prescribed in the law for the reason that children do not always voluntarily agree to provide assistance to their parents, even if the parents fulfilled their reciprocal responsibilities towards the children in full. In this case, the parent or both parents have the right to apply to the court with a corresponding application. Based on the results of the consideration, the court itself will establish in fixed monetary terms the monthly amount that the children or one child will have to pay to the parents.
Parents' spending needs.
When assigning payments by children in favor of their parents, the court calculates them from the number of children who jointly and severally bear the obligation to support their parents. If the parents subsequently refuse financial assistance from one or more children, the amount of payments will be reduced by the amounts that were payable by these children. For example, a mother has 4 children, and in her application she asks to collect maintenance from only 3. The court determines the amount necessary to support the mother and divides it by the total number of children, i.e. by 4. Afterwards, from the total amount, the amount due for payment by one child, for whom no claims were made, is subtracted, and the resulting difference will be that which is due to the mother as monthly maintenance. And the remaining 3 children will pay it in equal amounts.
This means that only one of the existing children, for example, should not provide assistance. The responsibility to support parents is assigned to all their existing offspring equally.
Release of children from the obligation to support parents
Although the obligation is provided for by the RF IC regarding the maintenance of parents by children, there are cases when the law exempts them from fulfillment. The decision on the issue of release from alimony obligations is entrusted to the court and is possible in the following cases:
- The parent claiming to receive financial support from the child was deprived of his rights as a parent in relation to him. However, if the child is not against providing financial support to such a parent and does not insist in court on the refusal to satisfy the demands, but recognizes them, then the deprived parent will receive maintenance from this child in court;
- If in the past the parent evaded the alimony obligations imposed on him to support minor children, to whom counterclaims are now being made;
- If in the past a parent evaded other responsibilities assigned to him by the RF IC as a parent (did not care about comprehensive development, etc.), this also provides grounds for releasing children from the obligation to provide financial assistance to the parent.
At the same time, the parent who has regained his rights has the right to claim support from the child on a general basis.
The relationship between parents and children should first of all be based on moral norms, and only in the rarest cases on legal norms. Because it is not for nothing that they say that the family is the basis of the state, the unit of society. But what will happen to our society if people related by blood, instead of showing mutual care, respect and support, demand money from each other through the courts?
Author of the article
Conditions for release from parental support
In situations where the case of providing for a disabled father or mother in need is resolved in court, they most often win. However, sometimes there are circumstances that do not allow the payment of maintenance to parents. A person can receive exemption from alimony if the court establishes:
- low material level of the children themselves;
- their incapacity due to any disease;
- finding them in the situation of caring for a disabled child.
Other circumstances may also be discovered that do not allow one to impose material obligations on the citizen. In two cases, children definitely cease to be liable for child support:
- Their parents were deprived of parental rights because they did not fulfill their duties or performed them improperly.
- The parents were not deprived of parental rights, but they avoided fulfilling their duty and it is possible to prove this fact.
A father or mother who at one time refused responsibility, who did not care for a young child until he came of age, loses his constitutional right to receive help from them when the children reach this age.
Consequently, the obligation of children to support disabled parents is quite natural. Sometimes it is fixed in a written agreement on financial assistance to the mother or father from sons or daughters. In the event that children evade its execution, the courts step in to resolve the issue, in accordance with Article 87 of the Family Code of the Russian Federation.
