Supreme Court bans blocking alimony on debtors’ accounts

The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation declared a violation of the law to block alimony on bank accounts.

The clarification of the court refers to a situation when the bank, according to the writ of execution, seized the funds received on the debtor’s current account in this financial institution. The money itself was not written off, it was simply frozen. “The debtor, disagreeing with the actions of the bank, appealed to the court to declare them illegal, motivating the demand by the fact that alimony for the maintenance of his minor children is being credited to this bank account,” says the review of the Supreme Court, which quotes “Russian newspaper”.

Alimony refers to a secured payment that cannot be collected against debt. However, a representative of the bank in court expressed the opinion that, they say, the money remained in the account, which means, in his opinion, the law has not been violated.

The Supreme Court does not agree with this interpretation. “When fulfilling the requirement of a writ of execution on the seizure of the debtor’s funds, the bank is not entitled to establish a restriction on the disposal of funds that cannot be foreclosed by virtue of the law,” the higher court explained.

Earlier, a group of senators and deputies submitted to the State Duma a bill expanding the list of protected social payments. Immunity from collection will also apply to any one-time social payments established by the President of Russia or the government.

As explained by Olga Batalina, Deputy Head of the Ministry of Labor of the Russian Federation, all payments that are aimed at social support of citizens and are introduced by acts of the government of the Russian Federation or decrees of the President of the Russian Federation, as well as support for low-income pregnant women and state social assistance, including in the form of a social contract, have been added to the list. Accordingly, all protected payments will be subject to the legal position of the Supreme Court that they cannot be not only withheld, but also frozen.

August 22 Russian President Vladimir Putin on the eve of the State Duma elections announced payments to some citizens. The head of state ordered pensioners, including those who work, to pay 10 thousand rubles each, the military and security officials – almost a third more, on average 15 thousand rubles. A week later, he signed relevant decrees.

Then the mayor of Moscow Sergei Sobyanin ordered pay 20 thousand rubles to veterans of the Great Patriotic War and participants in the defense of Moscow in December 1941.

Speaker of the Federation Council Valentina Matvienko statedthat lump sum payments to retirees are not politically related. In the Kremlin, commenting on the low ratings of United Russia ahead of the elections, statedthat the ruling party allegedly never engaged in populism, was always responsible for what was happening in the country.