Responsibility for partial payment of alimony may appear in Russia

The government of Russia has submitted a draft law that toughens responsibility for non-payment of alimony to the State Duma.  We are talking about situations when the payer extinguishes only a part of the amount, avoiding prosecution.  Now it is proposed to punish such debtors both in administrative and criminal way.

According to the chairman of the lower house of parliament Vyacheslav Volodin, non-payers of alimony now manage to avoid any liability if they pay off even a small part of the debt.

The parliamentarian noted that the situation when the burden of keeping children falls on only one of the parents, and the second evades his/her duties for years, is unacceptable, reports ‘Rossiyskaya Gazeta’.

As an example, the authors of the initiative cited a real court case, when the administrative proceedings against the non-payer of alimony were terminated due to the payment of 500 rubles.  At the same time, the total amount of debt exceeded 60,000 rubles.

The authors of the initiative are convinced that the introduction of liability for partial payment of alimony will improve the situation with the evasion of the entire debt.  As an argument, the data provided by the Federal Bailiff Service are cited, according to which about 40% of debtors, when brought to justice, repay the resulting debt, both partially and completely.  At the same time, for the moment, a citizen may face punishment in the form of a fine, administrative arrest or compulsory work in an administrative order, or criminal liability with punishment up to imprisonment for non-payment of alimony.