Housing child support
At the moment, domestic legislation does not provide for “housing alimony”; the housing needs of minor children are met through the ability to oblige the parent to incur additional expenses for the child, as well as the obligation to provide him and the parent with whom the child lives with housing for accommodation.
Despite this, the legislative bodies are currently considering a project to amend family legislation, which will specify the obligations of parents who do not live with the child, by court decision, to satisfy the minor’s need for housing. According to the authors, such a need will arise if the father and child do not own housing or if there is no opportunity to rent it.
Legislation on housing support for children
The issue of collecting alimony is a topic that regularly comes up in legislator circles, the need for reform of which is associated with a more complete protection of the property interests of minor children. Now the right to receive alimony for minor children is enshrined in the Family Code of Ukraine; it is assumed that the collected funds are spent on their general maintenance, without any specific indication of the intended purpose, they are collected from one of the parents of the funds.
Domestic legislation does not provide for such a concept as “housing alimony” aimed at providing a child with housing. However, the prospect and possibility of its implementation is already quite high.
The advisability of including a new norm in legislation seems quite controversial. First of all, due to the presence of already existing norms of family and housing legislation aimed at realizing the rights and interests of minor children and the parents with whom they live after a divorce. The main ones are:
- According to the Family Code of Ukraine, in the presence of any exceptional circumstances, by a court decision, each of the child’s parents may be required to bear additional expenses caused by such circumstances. They may also be the absence of the parents with whom the child lives, their own housing or the ability to provide him with housing.
- The parent needs to file a claim in court, and if he can justify the exceptionality of such circumstances, the court may collect additional funds from the other to provide the child with housing, which will already be some form of “housing alimony.”
- In addition, the provisions of the Housing Code establish the right of former family members (former spouses) to provide them with housing by court decision. If the former spouses do not have legal grounds for purchasing or using housing or their property status and other circumstances prevent this, then the former family member (ex-spouse) – the owner of the housing, by a court decision, may be obliged to provide it to his former spouse.
Collection of housing support for a child through the court
Example
B. filed a lawsuit for divorce from V. Since the spouses had a minor child, B., with whom he remained to live, also demanded to collect alimony from B for his maintenance. When B. and V. were married, they lived in an apartment belonging to V. Since divorce involves the dissolution of family relationships, B. no longer has the right to use B’s housing.
Due to B.’s lack of housing and the funds to purchase or rent it, she, basing her demand on the provisions of the Housing Code, asked the court to oblige her ex-husband to allocate her a room in his apartment to live with the child. Despite V.’s disagreement, the court satisfied B.’s request.
Collection of housing support for children: judicial practice, complications
Consideration of the bill on “housing alimony” causes a lot of controversy among legislators and legal experts, divided into two camps – defenders of the housing rights of minors and opponents of “alimony slavery.” In any case, the adoption of the above changes in family law can become a support for many manipulations of this situation on the part of former spouses living together with a common child.
Such manipulations by an unscrupulous parent may be dictated by the lack of regulatory regulation of certain aspects that are paramount when collecting “housing alimony.”
At the same time, the absence of specific norms in housing and family legislation may also affect law enforcement practice when courts make decisions to collect such additional costs, which in turn will cause mass appeals of such decisions. Let us note the main gaps in the legislation that may create difficulties in collecting “housing alimony”:
- Lack of standards for living space required to meet the interests and needs of a minor child. The need to determine them will directly influence the court’s decision when collecting additional expenses, especially in cases where the child or the father living with him has a share in the ownership of the residential premises, which, in their opinion, is insufficient to meet the child’s needs.
- The solution to the above difficulty can only be a method of determining such standards at the federal level. This will equalize the rights of minors and eliminate manipulation. In addition, it is advisable to link such standards to the age of the minor, since as they grow older, the need for living space will increase.
- There are no specific limits on the rental cost of a rented parent living with a child in residential premises. No less important is the standard, which will definitely become the subject of a dispute between the former spouses in court, since it will directly affect the amount of additional expenses charged to the parents.
- If the above changes are adopted, the definition of cost boundaries must be carried out at the level of constituent entities of Ukraine or territorial communities, since the average rental cost will differ significantly depending on the average income level in the region, as well as on a specific locality.
- Lack of a personal approach to assessing a man’s financial situation when collecting “housing alimony.” As a general rule, in the case of collection of alimony from wages, in accordance with clause of the Law of Ukraine “On
- Enforcement Proceedings”, the amount of penalties cannot exceed a percentage of wages. With such content, the question arises of ensuring the housing rights of the alimony payer himself.
Assistance from a lawyer in collecting housing support for children
Of course, current legislation establishes some housing guarantees for former spouses and minor children living with them. However, their implementation is often problematic and does not fully protect children and single mothers, who more often than not remain to live with the child after a divorce. In this regard, the specification of housing guarantees for children in the Family Code is an absolute plus for domestic law.
At the same time, this can become a tool for manipulation and blackmail on the part of parents living with minors. And the absence of specific regulations related to the implementation of such bills will only create even more problems with the collection of “housing alimony” and may even cause serious financial problems for the other parent.
Services of a family lawyer
A family lawyer will provide you with legal advice and help you draw up all the necessary documents on housing support for a child.
We are responsible for the quality of legal services and guarantee a positive result.
With the help of a family lawyer or lawyer, your child support case will be resolved more professionally and quickly.
By contacting us, you are guaranteed to receive professional legal assistance regarding housing child support.
You deserve our professional legal assistance!
Take the first step towards your victory in a legal case regarding child support, call or write to a lawyer and you will receive answers to all your questions.
