Original title: the biological mother failed to pay alimony for 9 years and was sued by her 10-year-old daughter. The court ordered her to pay 1000 yuan a month
"I am 10 years old. My parents divorced when I was more than 1 year old. I have been living with my father, but I have never received the alimony from my mother." Recently, a girl named Xiao Li took her biological mother Zhang Mei to court in order to recover alimony.
On October 9, the surging news () reporter learned from the Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate People's court that the court of first instance of the case decided that Zhang Mei would pay a monthly alimony of 1000 yuan from November 2018 until her daughter was 18 years old, and pay a supplementary alimony of more than 39000 yuan in combination with Zhang Mei's actual affordability, local actual living standards and other factors. After Zhang Mei appealed on the grounds of inability to afford, the first intermediate people's Court of Shanghai rejected the appeal and upheld the original judgment.
No fixed job, unable to increase alimony
Zhang Mei married her ex husband Zhao Qian after free love and gave birth to her daughter in 2008. But it didn't last long. When their daughter was only more than one year old, they divorced because of life contradictions. In May 2009, both parties agreed that after divorce, her daughter lived with Zhao Qian, and Zhang Mei paid 350 yuan of alimony per month. However, since her divorce, Zhang Mei has not paid alimony. In the twinkling of an eye, her daughter is 10 years old.
In 2018, the daughter took her mother to court and asked Zhang Mei to pay a total of more than 39000 yuan in alimony from June 2009 to October 2018. At the same time, Zhang Mei is required to increase the alimony and pay 2000 yuan a month from November 2018.
Zhang Mei said that the alimony she gave her daughter was paid in cash when she visited her daughter. In addition, she had no job for more than two years and was weak. She could only do some odd jobs. Her monthly income was only 2000 yuan, so she was unable to increase the alimony. For Ms. Zhao's defense, Zhao Qian said that he had never received alimony from Zhang Mei, and Zhang Mei rarely came to visit her daughter.
The court held that the payment of alimony was a legal obligation
The court of first instance held that it was difficult to accept Zhang Mei's opinion that she had paid alimony in cash because she did not provide effective evidence to prove it. With the growth of her daughter and the improvement of social living standards, the corresponding expenses have increased greatly. It is reasonable for her daughter to ask for the adjustment of alimony. The court of first instance, in combination with Zhang Mei's actual affordability and local actual living standards, decided that Zhang Mei would pay a monthly alimony of 1000 yuan from November 2018 until her daughter was 18 years old, and pay a supplementary alimony of more than 39000 yuan.
After the judgment of the first instance, Zhang Mei refused and appealed to the first intermediate people's Court of Shanghai. Zhang Mei believes that the court of first instance decided to pay 1000 yuan of alimony per month, which she can't afford, and asked to reduce it to 800 yuan.
After hearing the case, the first intermediate people's Court of Shanghai held that Article 37 of China's marriage law clearly stipulates that after divorce, for the children raised by one party, the other party shall bear part or all of the necessary living and education expenses, and the amount and duration of the expenses shall be agreed by both parties; If no agreement is reached, the people's court shall make a judgment. The agreement or judgment on the children's living expenses and education expenses shall not prevent the children from making reasonable demands to either parent in excess of the original amount of the agreement or judgment when necessary. Zhang Mei believes that she is now unemployed, only doing some odd jobs and has no economic ability to increase alimony. However, she only provides the payment records of the social security center as evidence and does not provide other effective evidence. Social security payment records cannot be used as direct evidence of whether Zhang Mei has a job. In fact, Zhang Mei herself has complete labor ability. She should actively seek employment opportunities to reverse the difficulties and improve her economic ability, so as to better undertake the legal obligation of raising children.
Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate People's court rejected the appeal and upheld the original judgment.
The judge of the first intermediate people's Court of Shanghai said that at present, the proportion of cases in which the dependants ask for an increase in alimony is not small. There are many reasons for increasing alimony, including children going to school, going abroad, rising prices, illness, etc., and the situation that the party paying alimony refuses to increase alimony or requests to reduce alimony on the grounds of changes in economic conditions is also gradually increasing. In judicial practice, the court needs to judge according to the specific circumstances of different cases. Under normal circumstances, the court can determine whether the alimony needs to be increased and the amount to be increased according to the actual needs of the child, the affordability of parents, the average living standard of residence and other factors.