Alimony relations and single-parent families in Russia: institutional changes

The subject of the article is alimony relations and institutional changes in the sphere of their regulation. The purpose of the article is to analyze the financial situation of single-parent families, the role of alimony in their income structure, and changes in institutional approaches to issues in the field of alimony relations. As information sources of the article, the authors used statistical data, analytical materials from federal agencies, state reports on the situation of children and families with children, regulatory legal acts and texts of draft laws. The authors also used data from the HSE Russian Monitoring of the Economic Situation and Public Health (RMEH HSE) 2004–2022. Despite the increase in the efficiency of alimony debt collection, the situation has not improved significantly, as evidenced by data on the number of enforcement proceedings for recovery of alimony that were not completed at the end of the reporting period. In most regions of the Russian Federation, regional allowances for children whose parents evade alimony are ineffective due to their small size, which is not comparable to the size of the established subsistence minimum. In recent years, a number of changes have been made to family legislation and the law on enforcement proceedings in the parts related to alimony. There is an active legislative work of various subjects — the deputy corps, political parties, federal executive authorities, regional legislatures, and the public. The initiatives of the recent years are characterized by two approaches — increased coercion, tougher measures, and increased financial involvement of the state in supporting families who do not receive alimony. The initiative on the part of the public is aimed at certain liberalization. Updating the state’s alimony policy in terms of harmonizing relations in this area should become a part of modern family and demographic policy in Russia.

single-parent families, family income, poverty of single-parent families, alimony, alimony arrears, alimony legislation, practice of foreign countries