Some controversial issues relating to the object and subject of an offense under Part 1 of Art. 157 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation

Under the current legislation of the Russian Federation, the alimony obligation of parents to provide the financial support to their underage children is terminated from the moment when children come of age. The adult able-bodied children do not retain their right to alimony, even if they are students of higher educational institutions. Children from single-parent families often find themselves in a difficult position, because they do not have sufficient funds to pay for education and cannot exercise their right to education without their own income. The need for the adult able-bodies children to receive financial support from parents is evident due to the fact that nowadays in Russia children achieve economic independence later than they reach their full legal age. With no right to receive alimony, children from incomplete families are in a less privileged position than those who are brought up in a full family. The burden of their maintenance during their education falls entirely on one parent living with them, which can hardly be called fair. This situation under analysis gets even worse due to the annual reduction of state-funded places in universities and increase in tuition fees. However, in many foreign countries this problem is successfully solved. In particular, the legislation of Serbia stipulates that parents should support their adult children, as far as they can, and ensure their education until children reach the age of 26 in case there are valid reasons for the children to extend their education in secondary or higher educational institutions. In Switzerland, parents should, as far as possible, financially help their adult children until they finish their education, provided that they do it within a reasonable time. The list of countries which have managed to cope with this problem is long, so it is obvious that it is high time to raise the question in this country and to introduce some amendments to the legislation which would provide adult children with the right to get alimony from parents to finish their education in case there is no corresponding agreement between parents. The evasion from paying alimony in such cases should lead to criminal liability, which requires appropriate changes in the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

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