The financial support of a missing serviceman is not income of a member of his family (the recipient) and does not form the basis for calculating the recipient’s maintenance obligations – SC CivCC

Payments received by a family member as the financial support of a serviceman who has gone missing remain, by their legal nature, the personal property of the latter. Since maintenance in a share of earnings must be calculated exclusively from the actual income of the debtor, the said state assistance cannot form the basis for the accrual of the debtor’s maintenance obligations.

These conclusions were reached by the Supreme Court in the panel of judges of the First Judicial Chamber of the Civil Cassation Court.

In the case under review, the dispute arose in connection with the claimant’s challenge to the actions of the state enforcement officer who, when calculating the arrears of maintenance, did not include in the aggregate income of the debtor (the father) the financial support of his elder son, a serviceman who had gone missing, which the father had in fact been receiving from the military unit.

The court of first instance partially allowed the complaint and ordered the enforcement officer to recalculate the maintenance taking these payments into account. The appellate court, however, set that decision aside, explaining that the funds received by the father from the military unit as the support of his missing son constitute the personal property of the serviceman and are not the income of the debtor from which maintenance for the younger child is to be withheld.

The Civil Cassation Court of the Supreme Court left the appellate court’s ruling unchanged and reached the following legal conclusions.

Pursuant to parts 1, 3, 4, 6 and 8 of Article 71 of the Law of Ukraine “On Enforcement Proceedings”, the procedure for the recovery of maintenance is determined by law. The enforcement officer recovers from the debtor maintenance in the amount specified in the enforcement document, but not less than the minimum guaranteed amount provided for by the Family Code of Ukraine.

The determination of the amount of arrears of maintenance awarded as a share of earnings (income) is carried out by the enforcement officer in accordance with the procedure established by the Family Code of Ukraine.

According to parts 1 and 3 of Article 195 of the Family Code of Ukraine, arrears of maintenance awarded as a share of earnings (income) are determined on the basis of the actual earnings (income) which the maintenance payer received during the period in which recovery was not effected, irrespective of whether such earnings (income) were received in Ukraine or abroad.

Pursuant to part 6 of Article 9 of the Law of Ukraine “On the Social and Legal Protection of Servicemen and Members of Their Families”, in the wording that was in force at the time the parties’ son was declared missing, servicemen who have been taken prisoner or held hostage, as well as those interned in neutral states or who have gone missing, retain payments in the amount of the official salary for their last place of service, the salary for military rank, the seniority allowance, other monthly additional types of financial support of a permanent nature, and other types of financial support, taking into account changes in length of service and the rates of financial support. The families of the said servicemen are paid monthly financial support, including additional and other types of financial support, in the procedure and in the amounts established by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.

Consequently, the financial support of missing servicemen may be paid, inter alia: to the parents of the serviceman; to the servicemen themselves from the day of their release from captivity or hostage-taking; and may be included in the composition of the estate.

The Civil Cassation Court of the Supreme Court noted that financial support is, as a general rule, paid from the appropriations of the military unit precisely to the serviceman who is performing military service. The fact that the state pays these funds to the family members of a missing defender does not alter the legal nature of these funds as the property of the serviceman himself.

Therefore, the financial assistance to family members of missing defenders is not a type of income that is to be taken into account when calculating maintenance obligations. Such payments constitute a special social guarantee of support for the serviceman’s family and do not form part of the list of incomes from which, by law, funds are withheld for another child.

Link to the resolution of the Civil Cassation Court of the Supreme Court of 22 July 2026 in case No. 211/3391/20 (proceedings No. 61-7452св26) – https://reyestr.court.gov.ua/Review/138464486

This and other legal positions of the Supreme Court can be found in the Database of Legal Positions of the Supreme Court - https://lpd.court.gov.ua.