Publication date: 27.03.2024
According to the Family Code of Ukraine, parents are obliged to maintain a child until he reaches the age of majority.
In the event that one of the parents voluntarily does not support his minor child, the other parent can file a lawsuit in court for the collection of alimony in a compulsory manner, and at the same time, based on the results of the trial, he will receive a court decision, which will specify the specific amount of alimony that must be collected for one, two, three, etc. children
However, according to Art. 192 of the Family Code of Ukraine, the specified amount of alimony can be both reduced and increased.
Thus, the amount of alimony determined by a court decision is not considered unchanged. The payer of alimony has the right to apply to the court for a reduction of the amount of alimony for the child in those cases when, since the adoption of the original decision of the court on the collection of alimony, his financial situation, his state of health, or his family situation has changed, or his financial situation, health status has improved Has the family status of the alimony recipient changed?
At the same time, the court, taking into account the established circumstances and the set of appropriate and admissible evidence, can decide on the issue of reducing the amount of alimony.
Thus, if there are grounds, the alimony payer submits an application to the court to reduce the amount of alimony.
As you can see, the Family Code of Ukraine does not clearly provide grounds for reducing the amount of alimony. For each individual case, it must be certain life circumstances that happened to the payer of alimony, which do not allow him to pay alimony in the amount established by the court. These circumstances should not only be stated in the claim for alimony reduction, but also confirmed by the relevant evidence, which should be attached to the claim.
We can cite some examples of reasons for reducing the amount of alimony: difficult financial situation, serious illness of the alimony payer, birth of another child, improvement of the alimony recipient's financial condition, other life circumstances. However, it should be borne in mind that the validity of the reasons for reducing the amount of alimony in each individual case will be considered by the court, and there are no guarantees that the court will recognize the reasons for reducing the amount, which will be stated in the statement of claim, as valid, and at the same time will satisfy the claim .
When deciding the issue of changing the amount of alimony, the court takes into account the provisions of part 1, 2 of Article 182 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
The specified provisions of the law indicate that when deciding the requirements for changing the amount of previously collected alimony, the court is obliged to find out the financial and family status of both the alimony payer and the collector, as well as the deterioration or improvement of their health.
Therefore, when applying to the court with a claim to reduce the amount of alimony, the plaintiff should take into account the provisions of the above-mentioned article of the law.
It is worth noting that the Supreme Court also commented on the reduction of alimony upon the birth of a second child. Thus, in the resolution of October 10, 2023 in case No. 682/2454/22-ts, the Supreme Court indicated that the birth of another child by the payer of alimony after the decision to collect alimony for the maintenance of the first child in accordance with the provisions of Article 192 of the Civil Code of Ukraine is an independent ground to change the amount of alimony.
According to the decision of the Supreme Court of Ukraine dated February 5, 2014 in case No. 6-143цс13, taking into account the content of Articles 181, 192 of the Civil Code of Ukraine, the amount of alimony determined by the court's decision is not considered unchanged. A significant deterioration of the father's financial situation may be the basis for his request to reduce the amount of alimony. The Family Code of Ukraine provides grounds for changing the amount of alimony determined by a court decision, but does not link them to the method of awarding (Part 3, Article 181 of the Civil Code of Ukraine). Article 192 of the Civil Code of Ukraine only indicates the possibility of changing the previously established amount of alimony in the presence of grounds proven in a court of law, namely: changes in material or family status, deterioration or improvement in the health of one of them, and in other cases provided for by this Code.
The decisions of the Supreme Court dated May 28, 2021 in case No. 715/2073/20, dated June 3, 2020 in case No. 760/9783/18-ts, and dated September 16, 2020 in case No. 565/2071/19 set forth the conclusion regarding the necessity of providing evidence to confirm the deterioration of the property status of the person who filed a claim for a reduction in the amount of alimony, and it is also stated that a change in the marital status of the birth of children from another marriage is not an unconditional and independent basis for reducing the amount of alimony.
As you can see, the judicial practice is quite contradictory regarding lawsuits to reduce the amount of alimony, and in each specific case the situation is assessed by the judge according to his inner conviction.
Therefore, in order to determine the basis for the reduction of the size and, in fact, to draw up an appropriate claim, you should contact a specialist in this field of law.
