File a complaint with the prosecutor's office regarding alimony issues

The prosecutor's office cannot control the process of collecting alimony. Only the Federal Bailiff Service (FSSP) is vested with such powers. But if its employee is inactive and does not carry out all collection actions provided for by law, the citizen has the right to complain to the prosecutor’s office. On the other hand, failure to pay child support is a criminal offense. In this case, the former spouse can be held liable under the law for failure to comply with a court decision.

Grounds for appeal

Having received a copy of the court decision on collection, the FSSP is obliged to open enforcement proceedings. But its employees do not always carry out all possible actions to find the property or income of the debtor. If there are grounds to believe that the bailiff is sabotaging the collection process and improperly fulfilling his duties, you must contact the supervisory authority. Together with such a document, you can file an application for non-execution of a court order, based on Art. 315 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

But in a number of cases, the payer may be exempt from payments. This is possible under the following circumstances:

the child is 16 years old and has registered as a private entrepreneur or officially got a job;
the parent with whom the child lives has not received a collection order;
a child support agreement was concluded between the parents;
the child’s income is significantly higher than the financial capabilities of the payer (a corresponding court order will be required);
it turned out that the payer is not the biological father, which was confirmed by the results of the examination;
the child is officially adopted by another father, etc.

There is criminal liability for non-payment of alimony.

General rules for incentive payments

Measures that may be taken against the defendant: fines and penalties, seizure of property and a ban on leaving the country, deprivation of parental rights and control of a vehicle, administrative arrest and imprisonment.

Attention!
Arrest and imprisonment are measures that can only be taken for malicious evasion of parental obligations.

Any incentive measure is applied by court decision. A bailiff can initiate the proceedings. The payer has the right to speed up the process by filing an application to take measures against the defaulter. In fact, taking measures against an unscrupulous payer is the task of the bailiff. But due to the workload and low level of responsibility of the performers, the necessary actions have to be stimulated by filing complaints and statements.

The application of payment incentive methods to the alimony debtor can be initiated by the recipient, namely by writing a statement of non-payment. This is stated in Article 157 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

How to file a complaint

Regardless of what the applicant wants to complain about (the inaction of a bailiff or failure to comply with a court order), he must first contact the territorial unit. In most cases, this is enough to protect your rights and legitimate interests. If the application submitted to the territorial unit is returned or the applicant is not satisfied with the response received, he has the right to complain to the Prosecutor General's Office.

You can submit an appeal to the territorial division:

By mail, sending the complaint and additional materials by letter with notification. When sending correspondence, it is important to consider the weight limit. The application received by mail will be registered and transferred to the relevant department for consideration and decision-making on the essence of the issue.
Submit it at a personal meeting to the responsible employee of the department. Pre-registration is a prerequisite. The received complaint will be registered in the accounting system and transferred for consideration to the relevant department.
Bring it in person to your territorial unit, which can only be done during business hours. Documents are submitted to the office, where a mark indicating their acceptance is placed. To apply in person, you must have an ID card with you.
Send electronically through the official website of the Prosecutor General’s Office https://epp.genproc.gov.ru/web/gprf/internet-reception/personal-receptionrequest or the State Services portal. If the addressee is incorrectly specified when drawing up a document, the period for its consideration may increase. To avoid this, it is important to select the subject correctly and, if necessary, specify another recipient (for example, the FSSP). But if the applicant wants to submit two applications for the payer, he will have to make two electronic appeals. This can be done with or without authorization. You can attach files to the electronic complaint that confirm the legitimacy of the citizen’s demands.

How to file a complaint about non-execution of a decision

If the alimony provider maliciously evades his duties, hides property and income, you can complain to the prosecutor's office. In this case, we are talking about a crime for which criminal liability is provided. To correctly draw up a document, you must provide the following information:

Full name and position of the recipient of the application;
contact and personal information of the applicant (full name, postal address, current telephone number);
number of the resolution and name of the court that made the decision on collection;
excerpt from the operative part (who is the debtor, what actions must be performed, etc.);
number and date of opening of enforcement proceedings for collection;
to what extent the decree was executed, and what amount was paid by the debtor;
from what date the judicial act is not executed;
references to the norms of current legislation (315 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation);
list of demands (to hold accountable, to inform about the decision made);
list of applications;
date, signature.

If a citizen does not want to submit two appeals, in this document he can also complain about the inaction of the bailiff. But even if this is not indicated in the document, the prosecutor’s office can still conduct an audit of the work of the Federal Bailiff Service if it considers that it has sufficient grounds to make such a decision.

The period for consideration of the complaint is 30 calendar days. But, if the prosecutor's office needs more time to make a decision, the period may be extended after written notification to the applicant.

Consequences of contacting the prosecutor's office for the defaulter

After acceptance of the application, its processing will begin, and the factors stated by the applicant will be verified. If they turn out to be true, the prosecutor will take a number of actions. However, they will be directed to the bailiff who conducted the case, and not to the defaulter.
A prosecutor's office employee may:

establish the presence of a violation on the part of the FSSP employee;
require him to eliminate the violations that were identified during the inspection;
bring the offender to justice.

Important! The prosecutor cannot take any punitive measures against the person who owes money.

However, if there is an appropriate result of the check, the management of the offending bailiff can force him to begin proceedings in this case.

As a result of this, the defaulter may be brought to administrative or criminal liability, depending on the duration of the debt obligation and the accumulated amount of debt. However, this is done by an authorized bailiff, not a prosecutor.

How to file a complaint about inaction when collecting alimony

If the bailiff does not respond to reports of non-payment of alimony, deliberately delays the collection process, does not control the flow of funds, or has terminated/suspended enforcement proceedings for no apparent reason, an application should be submitted to the prosecutor's office. But if the applicant directly contacts the supervisory authority, he may be refused to consider the claim. First, he must complain about the employee’s inaction to the management of the Federal Bailiff Service and only if his demands are not satisfied – to the prosecutor’s office. In order for an application to be accepted for consideration, you must indicate:

recipient details (full name and position);
applicant's details (full name, postal address, current telephone number);
details of the court decision on the basis of which the collection is carried out (date, number);
what decision was made by the court;
Full name and position of the FSSP employee who conducts enforcement proceedings;
what violations were committed during the collection;
references to legislative norms;
a list of requirements (conduct an inspection, punish the violator, report the decision);
list of applications;
date, signature.

The complaint should be accompanied by a copy of the previously submitted application to the Federal Bailiff Service or the response received by the applicant.

If there are suspicions that an employee of the enforcement service has entered into a criminal conspiracy with the alimony payer, you must directly contact the prosecutor’s office.

What documents should I attach?

Documents confirming the circumstances of the case and the rightness of the plaintiff are attached to the claim. It can be:

a copy of the marriage and divorce certificate;
documents confirming the assignment of payments (writ of execution, judicial act, etc.);
a copy of the resolution on debt settlement;
calculation of the penalty for alimony debt for the required period.

The claim shall be accompanied by any documentary evidence confirming the validity of the claims.

Question answer

Question: My ex-husband’s debt is about 1 million rubles. 7 months passed from the date of the court decision to the initiation of enforcement proceedings. Until now, the FSSP employee has not provided a calculation of the amount of debt. He explains this by the fact that all the necessary documents were sent to interested parties by mail, but by simple letter (without notification). My requests to send calculations by email were refused several times. A complaint to the head of the FSSP did not bring the desired result. The debtor is officially wanted, although in fact I know where he is, which I have repeatedly told the employee about. Can this be considered a valid reason to contact the prosecutor's office?

Answer: If a complaint about the inaction of a bailiff was previously submitted to the leadership of the Federal Bailiff Service, then you can complain to the supervisory authority. The document must indicate that the bailiff is inactive, does not search for the debtor, refuses to provide calculations and evades his direct duties.

Question: An ex-wife regularly contacts the prosecutor's office and writes statements about non-payment of alimony. Since the divorce, there has indeed been one delay in payment of several months (due to health problems, the relevant documents were provided to the FSSP). But now, despite paying monthly alimony, the ex-wife still files complaints to annoy and ruin her life. How can you influence her?

Answer: The only effective method to stop such actions is to file a statement of slander (Article 128.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), since we are talking about the dissemination of information that discredits the honor and dignity of another person. But this is only relevant if alimony is actually paid on time, and the issue regarding the previous debt was settled with the Federal Bailiff Service. You can even try to achieve moral compensation by going to court.

Question: My ex-husband is an employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Moreover, he is a malicious debtor. Is it possible to file a complaint against him with the prosecutor's office or can you only complain to the Ministry of Internal Affairs?

Answer: In this case, it does not matter where the debtor works. If he does not pay alimony, and employees of the Federal Bailiff Service do not carry out enforcement actions provided for by law, you must contact the prosecutor's office. In such a situation, you can file 2 complaints at once: about non-execution of a court decision and the inaction of the bailiff.

Question: The court decision on alimony came into force in August 2022. But my ex-husband hasn’t paid for a year now. At his place of residence (in another region at the place of registration) an application was submitted to open enforcement proceedings. First, the bailiffs lost my details. When they were re-provided with payment information, payments resumed. But out of 530 thousand, only 20 thousand were received and the payments stopped there. The FSSP claims that transfers are being made, but in fact I do not receive them. What to do in such a situation?

Answer: If, according to official data, alimony is paid, most likely, incorrect details are used to transfer it. First, you should submit an official appeal to the head of the department with a demand to understand the current situation. If this does not bring results, contact the prosecutor's office.

Question: The bailiff is clearly shirking his duties. At the same time, he indirectly promises to pay alimony for a certain material incentive. I'm afraid to complain somewhere, as this could aggravate my situation. What is the best way to deal with this situation?

Answer: In this case, we are not talking about the inaction of an official, but about a criminal act. To bring him to criminal responsibility, it is necessary to file a complaint with the prosecutor's office. The only thing you should take care of is the availability of evidence (for example, you can use a video recording of a conversation, correspondence on a social network). Without compelling arguments, the complaint will not be accepted, and the applicant may be punished for providing knowingly false information.

What threatens the child support provider for non-payment of funds for the child?

In case of non-payment of funds, the alimony recipient faces criminal (arrest for up to six months or a prison term for a year or more) or administrative (calculation of fines, penalties, interest, sale of property, ban on driving a vehicle and crossing the state border) liability.

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The legislative framework

To correctly draw up and submit a complaint, you should rely on the following legislative acts:

Family Code of the Russian Federation dated December 29, 1995 N 223-FZ (as amended on July 2, 2021).
Federal Law “On the Prosecutor’s Office of the Russian Federation” dated January 17, 1992 N 2202-1 (as amended on July 1, 2021).
Federal Law “On the procedure for considering appeals from citizens of the Russian Federation” dated May 2, 2006 N 59-FZ (as amended on December 27, 2018).
Code of the Russian Federation on Administrative Offenses dated December 30, 2001 N 195-FZ (as amended on July 1, 2021).
Criminal Code of the Russian Federation dated June 13, 1996 N 63-FZ (as amended on July 1, 2021) (as amended and supplemented, entered into force on August 22, 2021).