Mothers raising a child alone often face situations where this fact needs to be confirmed. A “single mother’s certificate” is a familiar official confirmation of such status to many. But the fact is that the green booklet with this title has not been issued since 2006 .
The document confirming the status of a single mother at the moment is not a single mother’s certificate, but the birth certificate . You provide it upon receipt of the above requests. However, questions may arise regarding the birth certificate. However, they continue to ask and even persistently demand it from their parents.
Who can apply for preferential status for a single mother?
In 2021, the legislation of the Russian Federation still does not enshrine a unified understanding of the status of “single mother” . Definitions of equivalent meaning are presented in regulations in various fields. Therefore, the list of requirements for those applying for the position of a single parent depends on the area of benefits in which the mother plans to apply.
For more information about who can legally be considered a single mother, see this article.
For example, to receive relief in the field of labor relations, a citizen must meet the criteria defined in paragraph 2 of clause 28 of the Resolution of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation No. 1 of January 28, 2014:
- Perform the functions of a parent alone.
- To take care of children in the absence of a father due to his death, deprivation of parenting rights, incapacity, health problems, stay in prison, evasion of child care and financial support.
Labor legislation does not specify as a mandatory condition the absence of information about the father in the birth certificate. A man may be legally established as a father, but still avoid fulfilling obligations or lack the capacity to do so.
Svetlana Anokhina
Family lawyer, website expert
To receive tax benefits, women must meet the criteria clarified by Letter of the Ministry of Finance No. 03-04-05/78050 dated October 30, 2018. It is assumed that a single mother acquires her status (except for the absence of a father in the birth documents) due to the death of the second parent, declaring him dead or missing in court. Divorce and failure to fulfill the duties of the father are not grounds for receiving benefits.
Social benefits are regulated by regulations of regional authorities. Therefore, the requirements for single mothers may differ slightly depending on the area of residence. Usually, social authorities are guided by the fact that the father should not be indicated in the documents in principle (or he should be included only according to the words of the mother, but has no legal rights ).
The procedure for making entries of this type in birth documents is provided for in Art. 17 of Law No. 143-FZ of October 22, 1997 and the Family Code. In particular, the father is not recorded, or is indicated according to the mother, but does not have rights to the child, in the following situations:
- The parents' marriage has not been formalized; there is no statement from both or a court decision to confirm paternity.
- Mom is not married, there is an appeal to indicate the father from her words (at the same time, there was no initiative from dad to include information about him in the birth documents).
- The marriage was dissolved more than 300 days before the baby was born ; there are no other candidates to define themselves as a parent.
- The husband died in a period similar to the previous point.
Set of documentation required to obtain a certificate
Certificate of marriage from the registry office
In order for the civil registry office to take the application seriously, they need to present a comprehensive set of documentation proving her social status due to the absence of a breadwinner in the family, namely:
- Passport or any other ID document valid in the Russian Federation.
- Certificate of birth of a son or daughter.
- A certificate confirming the composition of the family, issued by the Housing Office or MFC upon prior request.
- For employed citizens - a duplicate of the work book, namely all its completed pages.
- Information from the house register provided by the management company or MFC.
- Certificate in form 2-NDFL or other document confirming the income of citizens.
Medical care for the baby
Important! All requested documents must be original and to certify copies, you must also present the originals of the listed papers to the registry office.
Who is not entitled to obtain single mother status in 2021?
The categories of those who will not be able to acquire the status of a single mother, as well as the corresponding benefits and allowances, depend on the scope of the laws (labor, tax or social). The most stringent requirements are imposed in the latter case.
Citizens will not be able to acquire status in the following cases:
- The marriage is registered before the birth of the child.
- The birth of the baby took place before 300 days from the date of divorce .
- There is a court order to determine paternity or a joint decision of the parents to establish this fact.
- The father is listed in the child’s documents, but does not provide support in raising him.
- The husband died 300 days before the birth of the child.
Validity period of the certificate in form 25
A lot can change in a woman’s life over time, namely, she can lose her status as a single mother and find a new husband, having formalized a marriage relationship with him. The man, in turn, can register himself as the official guardian for the child. There are also moments when the father, who had previously not taken any part in raising a common child born out of wedlock, suddenly became interested in him and began to help in raising the common child.
Single mother
Certificate of change of surname from the registry office
All these facts, as a rule, lead to the fact that the birth certificate form 25 becomes irrelevant for the woman, and she can no longer claim some of the benefits from the state due to the loss of her status. That is why the acquired birth certificate in form 25 has its own expiration date, and a woman needs to confirm her status once within a certain period.
Important! Due to the fact that social benefits paid to vulnerable sections of society, as a rule, relate to regional payments, different conditions apply for each status depending on the specific subject of the federation. This means that in different regions and republics, the validity period of a document confirming the status of a single mother is valid from 30 to 180 days, after which it is necessary to appear at the registry office and certify the right to benefits.
The procedure for obtaining single mother status
To take advantage of the benefits and allowances provided to a single mother, you must obtain the appropriate status. To do this, you will need to contact the state social support agency.
Where to contact
In order to obtain the status of a single mother, you must apply to the place where you receive the appropriate benefits or benefits. Labor and tax breaks are issued at the place of work of the only parent. Other types of benefits and benefits can be obtained by contacting the social security authorities. A visit to the last resort is possible:
- personally;
- through your representative (necessarily by proxy);
- by contacting the MFC or on the website Gosuslugi.ru
What documents are needed for registration?
The list of required papers may vary slightly depending on the requirements of regional social security authorities. Most often, the following documents will be required when applying:
- Certificate of birth of a child (decision on adoption).
- Mother's passport.
- Certificate in form No. 2 (previously known as No. 25).
- An extract confirming the fact of cohabitation.
- Certificate of divorce or death of the second parent before the birth of the baby.
- Statement.
- A copy of the work book.
- Inquiries
- about income;
- living conditions;
- no debt on utility bills (in some cases).
Obtaining a certificate in form No. 25
Sometimes situations arise when information about the child’s father was included in the birth certificate from the words of the mother, and he does not pretend to establish his legal status in relation to the child. In this case, the woman has the right to receive a certificate stating that she is the only parent, and the information about the father was entered from her words.
Previously, this document was known as “Form No. 25”; the issuance procedure and type were regulated by Order of the Ministry of Justice No. 144 of August 10, 2017.
Currently, the regulatory document has been canceled and this version of the certificate is no longer valid.
It was replaced by Order of the Ministry of Justice No. 200 dated 10/01/18 and “Form No. 2” . The certificate is issued upon application of the parent (or his representative) upon application:
- To the civil registry office at the place of residence of the mother or the territory of birth (for nonresidents, only the second option is possible).
- At the MFC.
- Through the State Services website.
The document is drawn up simultaneously with the issuance of a birth certificate. In this case, the child is assigned the mother's surname , and the patronymic is given based on her wishes.
The application must be submitted within 1 month. from the date of birth of the child (clause 6 of Article 16 of Law No. 143-FZ of October 22, 1997)
To receive, you will need to provide the following documents:
- Mother's passport.
- Application in the prescribed form.
- A document from a medical institution confirming the fact of the birth of the baby (or a court decision, a witness statement, etc., proving this event).
- Certificate of divorce, if the woman was in it.
- An act confirming the death of a spouse (if there is an event).
- Application from mother to enter information about father.
Form 25 from the registry office - what is it
A birth certificate from the registry office in form 25 is issued to a mother raising a child alone, without the help of a father, to confirm the status of a socially vulnerable person. Thus, the issue of obtaining this document is regulated by a whole list of legislative documents, each of which defines its own list of benefits for a citizen, in particular:
- RF IC, Chapter 1 regarding determining family composition and grounds for issuing a document.
- Articles 81, 261, 269, 336 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, regulating the receipt of special benefits for the birth and care of a child, transferred to the employer from the Social Insurance Fund.
- Article 218 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation regarding the provision of tax deductions from previously transferred amounts if the mother is an officially employed citizen. Thus, the mother can receive compensation from the Federal Tax Service if the child is treated in a hospital or receives education on a paid basis.
- Federal Law No. 178, No. 255, which determine the amount of benefits, discounts and other benefits for this category of citizens raising children and placing them in state educational institutions.
Help on form F25
Important! The registry office can confirm the status of a single mother for a woman and issue her the appropriate document confirming her status if she has a documentary evidence base.
Application for obtaining a certificate from the registry office
Certificate of pregnancy for the registry office
Certificate F25 - what is it, where can I get it and how to apply for it? In order to obtain the necessary birth document, a woman must write an application in the prescribed form, a sample of which is available here. This document is drawn up personally by the applicant and contains the following mandatory data:
- The name of the civil registry office department where the citizen submits documents.
- Information about the applicant from her identity card, including her actual residence address and contact details.
- Name of paper.
- The main part is the grounds and circumstances under which it is possible to assign status to a woman, as well as the formulation of the request for the issuance of the document itself.
- Register of accompanying documentation attached to the letter.
- Number and signature of the applicant.
Benefits at preschool educational institutions
Important! In order for a government agency to consider an application from a woman applying for the status of a single mother and the benefits arising from it, she must present copies of all the documents that she herself registered in the registry.
