Child support disputes are a nightmare for many divorcing parents. However, coming to an agreement on child support or going through a court hearing to determine child support may not be the most difficult. Dramatic situations reliably arise when a former partner stops paying alimony. But with our help, you won’t lose them.
Maintenance obligations between parent and child are among the basic legal obligations that cannot be easily circumvented. Czech law provides that a parent has a maintenance obligation, i.e. he or she must financially support his or her child until the child is able to support himself or herself. The finances determined by the maintenance obligation are primarily intended to cover the child’s living costs, such as housing, food, education and leisure activities. If the other parent fails to meet his or her maintenance obligation, it is possible to seek redress through the courts.
Whatever the initial situation, the first step is to simply bring the failure to pay to the attention of the defaulter. There does not always have to be bad intent. One phone call or text will not pay and may be the easiest solution. Maybe the reason was just a mis-set standing order or not enough money in one of multiple accounts.
If this easiest route didn’t lead to your intended goal, the way you arrived at your child support amount is crucial to your next course of action.
If there has only been an out-of-court agreement on child support and you do not have a court order in hand, you can first make a written demand for repayment and resumption of child support payments. Don’t forget to mention the court resolution of the whole matter. The next step can then be a petition for a maintenance order. A petition for child support is filed with the district court of the child’s residence.
Tip: We have covered the amount of maintenance and how to calculate it in a separate article.
The establishment of maintenance by the court is a prerequisite for obtaining maintenance or punishing the defaulter in the event of long-term or repeated non-payment.
If the court has already approved your agreement or ruled on your maintenance on a motion in the past, your starting position is a little better. The other parent is already legally obliged to pay, and you have more options to recover the maintenance owed. Again, it is tactful to start by writing to the defaulter to warn him of the possibility of enforcement and criminal proceedings. If a solicitor writes the summons and signs it on your behalf, so that your ex-partner can see that you are serious about your intentions, even this step may be enough to make amends.
The next steps may be to file a criminal complaint or a motion to enforce (execute) the judgment.
If you are faced with a failure of the other parent to meet the maintenance obligation, one possible solution is to file an enforcement action. This enforcement action can be filed with the court that issued the maintenance order and the court will then order enforcement. An enforcement application is often more effective than a criminal complaint because it is aimed directly at recovering the amount owed.
Non-compliance with maintenance obligationscan be classified as a criminal offence. If the debtor fails to fulfil the maintenance obligation for more than four months, he or she may be punished by imprisonment for up to one year. If he has intentionally evaded this obligation, then up to two years. And if the child has been put in danger of distress by such conduct, the defaulter faces up to three years in prison. At the same time, the law allows for so-called “effective contrition” in the case of a child support defaulter, whereby the defaulter does not have to be punished if he or she fulfils the obligation before the judgment is handed down.
As a rule, notorious non-payers of alimony are not aware of the fact that it is a criminal offence until after four months of non-payment. In practice, they sometimes send a small amount of maintenance every three months, for example, so that the provisions of the law do not fall on them. However, even in such a case, it makes sense to file a criminal complaint for non-compliance with maintenance obligations. Describe precisely the conduct of the other parent that may be classified as circumvention of the law.
To file a criminal complaint, go to your local police station. You will need to produce documents relating to maintenance (i.e., in particular the judgment establishing maintenance, or the judgment of divorce and the child’s birth certificate). After the police have investigated the matter, they will hand it over to the public prosecutor’s office and the court will then decide on the punishment.
Is the other parent claiming to have no money and offering you minimum maintenance, or is he or she avoiding his or her maintenance obligation altogether? Leave it to us. We can help you secure the highest possible child support so you don’t have to live on the breadline.
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Punishing a parent who fails to meet his or her child support obligation will not in itself bring you the funds that are due to your child. There are other procedures for recovering child support through the courts. The advantage is that you do not have to wait for non-payment of four child support payments as in a criminal case.
Maintenance that has not been paid can be recovered either in enforcement proceedings under the Civil Procedure Code or in enforcement proceedings.
The latter type of proceedings is more common and is also considered more efficient. The application for enforcement proceedings is filed with the bailiff. Here, too, the possibility of fulfilling the obligation voluntarily is accepted. Subsequently, the bailiff has a number of options for securing maintenance for your child.
This can be done, for example:
The costs of the execution will be borne by the debtor.
There can be many reasons for non-payment of maintenance. It may be a kind of revenge against the former spouse (although sadly the child is the main victim of this revenge) and it may also be related to the parent’s overall financial situation. For example, if the other parent is in debt and is paying primarily to creditors, whom they fear will be worse off if they are not paid.
If a parent is in insolvency, he or she still has an obligation to pay child support. Thus, insolvency and alimony are not mutually exclusive.
If the debtor is already in execution, you have an advantage over other creditors. Alimony is considered a priority debt, or it takes precedence over other debts. In the case of wage garnishment, maintenance claims are satisfied not from one-third but from two-thirds of the net wages after deduction of the amount not subject to garnishment.
If you think your former partner is insolvent, check the information free of charge and online in the insolvency register. If your suspicions are confirmed, take your claim to his insolvency practitioner. In principle, however, nothing should prevent the debtor from paying maintenance. Although he is generally not allowed to dispose of his property in this case, this restriction does not apply to maintenance.
Believing your ex-partner’s promises to pay up quickly may be commendable if this is the first instance of non-payment. However, in the case of long-term or repeated non-payment, procrastinating will not win you any points. On the contrary, for minor children, you can only recover unpaid maintenance up to a maximum of three years in arrears, and for adults only from the date you filed the petition. It is therefore definitely not worth waiting.
The state offers help to single parents whose ex-partner fails to pay long-term maintenance. Since the minor child is the main beneficiary of this situation, the parent can receive a maintenance payment from the state of up to 3,000 a month for two years. This money is then recovered by the State itself from the defaulter.
Tip: We have discussed in detail the replacement maintenance and the conditions for obtaining it in our article.
Non-payment of child support can have serious consequences for both the child and the other parent, so it is important to act quickly and effectively. If the defaulter does not respond to an agreement or a written demand, it is crucial to go to court or a bailiff. Enforcement of maintenance is often the quickest and most effective way of recovering sums owed, with maintenance taking priority even in the event of foreclosure or insolvency. If the debtor does not pay for more than four months, criminal charges can be brought, which can lead to a conviction. Trusting the promises of a defaulter is risky – the sooner you take legal action, the better the chances of the money reaching your child.
We can ensure a fair increase or adjustment in your alimony/child support payments, taking into account the financial situation of each party. Our experience will ensure your proposal has the highest chance of success in court. You may pay after services are provided.
Ondřej is the attorney who came up with the idea of providing legal services online. He's been earning his living through legal services for more than 10 years. He especially likes to help clients who may have given up hope in solving their legal issues at work, for example with real estate transfers or copyright licenses.
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