How to claim child support in Kyiv

When this is needed

This guide is for cases where one parent does not reg­u­lar­ly support the child or vol­un­tary pay­ments do not cover the agreed needs. The parents do not have to divorce first: a child’s right to support exists whether the parents are married, live to­geth­er or are already di­vorced.

Start by choos­ing the legal route, not by picking an ar­bi­trary amount. Parents may agree on how to meet the oblig­a­tion, enter into a no­ta­rized agree­ment or apply to court. The court offers two dif­fer­ent options: a sim­pli­fied ap­pli­ca­tion for a court order and claim pro­ceed­ings in which ev­i­dence is filed and the parties’ po­si­tions are con­sid­ered.

For a case in Kyiv, check the court’s current name, pro­ce­dur­al venue and the parties’ details before filing. Doc­u­ments may be sub­mit­ted in a form per­mit­ted by law, in­clud­ing through the “Elec­tron­ic Court” sub­sys­tem, but the method of filing cannot correct a wrongly se­lect­ed type of claim or an in­ad­e­quate­ly sub­stan­ti­at­ed amount.

If the parents are still re­solv­ing family matters, do not au­to­mat­i­cal­ly combine child support with divorce. The route for ending a mar­riage is ex­plained in the guide how to file for divorce in Kyiv, and a claim for the child’s support may be filed sep­a­rate­ly if that is more prac­ti­cal for timely con­sid­er­a­tion.

Applicable timing and procedure

Under Article 180 of the Family Code, parents must support a child until the child reaches the age of ma­jor­i­ty. They may fulfil this duty vol­un­tar­i­ly. Article 189 allows them to enter into a written, no­ta­rized agree­ment on the amount and timing of child support pay­ments; its terms may not violate the child’s rights. If the agree­ment is not per­formed, the law allows re­cov­ery based on a notary’s writ of ex­e­cu­tion, but first the doc­u­ment’s va­lid­i­ty and com­pli­ance with the re­quire­ments for the writ should be checked.

If there is no agree­ment, the re­cip­i­ent may choose a share of income or a fixed mon­e­tary amount. The court con­sid­ers more than arith­metic: Article 182 of the Family Code re­quires it to take into account the health and fi­nan­cial cir­cum­stances of the child and payer, other chil­dren and de­pen­dants unable to work, assets, proven ex­pens­es and other ma­te­r­i­al cir­cum­stances.

The guar­an­teed minimum for one child is 50% of the sub­sis­tence minimum for the child’s age. The rec­om­mend­ed minimum equals the full sub­sis­tence minimum and may be awarded if the payer’s income is suf­fi­cient. In 2026, the State Budget Law sets UAH 2,817 for chil­dren under 6 and UAH 3,512 for chil­dren from 6 to 18. The cor­re­spond­ing guar­an­teed figures are UAH 1,408.50 and UAH 1,756. You can check these figures and the sep­a­rate limit for order pro­ceed­ings in the child support ref­er­ence cal­cu­la­tor.

A court order is avail­able only for stan­dard­ized claims under para­graphs 4 and 5 of part one of Article 161 of the Civil Pro­ce­dure Code. The first option is a share of earn­ings: 1/4 for one child, 1/3 for two, and 1/2 for three or more chil­dren, capped at ten sub­sis­tence min­i­mums per child. The second is a fixed amount of 50% of the age-based sub­sis­tence minimum. Either option is avail­able if the claim is not con­nect­ed with es­tab­lish­ing or con­test­ing pa­ter­ni­ty or ma­ter­ni­ty and does not require other in­ter­est­ed parties to be in­volved.

The tenfold cap in the first option is not a general maximum for child support. It limits a spe­cif­ic claim for a share of income in order pro­ceed­ings. If you need a dif­fer­ent fixed amount, a com­bi­na­tion of methods, ev­i­dence of special needs, support for a past period or res­o­lu­tion of a dispute, con­sid­er bring­ing a claim.

Under Article 191 of the Family Code, support is awarded from the date the claim is filed, or, in order pro­ceed­ings, from the date the ap­pli­ca­tion for the order is filed. Support for a past period may be re­cov­ered within statu­to­ry limits if the ap­pli­cant proves that they took steps to obtain support but did not receive it because the payer evaded payment. A verbal state­ment that re­quests were made earlier is usually not enough: cor­re­spon­dence, demands, trans­fers or other proper ev­i­dence is needed.

Steps to take

1. Doc­u­ment the child’s needs. Prepare a re­al­is­tic monthly budget for food, the child’s share of housing costs, cloth­ing, ed­u­ca­tion, treat­ment, trans­port, ac­tiv­i­ties and other regular needs. Do not inflate the cal­cu­la­tion with ex­pens­es un­re­lat­ed to the child or un­sup­port­ed by ev­i­dence.
2. Con­sid­er a vol­un­tary arrange­ment. If the other parent is willing to ne­go­ti­ate, agree on an amount or share, payment dates and method, in­dex­a­tion, term and li­a­bil­i­ty. Consult a notary for an en­force­able agree­ment; a private receipt does not provide all the ben­e­fits of a no­ta­rized child support agree­ment.
3. Seek a court order only if every con­di­tion matches. Compare the re­quest­ed relief with para­graphs 4 and 5 of Article 161 of the Civil Pro­ce­dure Code. If a stan­dard share of income or 50% of the sub­sis­tence minimum applies and there is no dispute about the child’s parent­age or need to involve other in­ter­est­ed parties, order pro­ceed­ings may be simpler.
4. Prepare a claim for an in­di­vid­ual request. A claim is needed if you seek a dif­fer­ent fixed amount, have ev­i­dence of sub­stan­tial needs, want to sub­stan­ti­ate the payer’s fi­nan­cial cir­cum­stances, seek support for a past period or face a pro­ce­dur­al dispute. Explain not only the amount but also how you cal­cu­lat­ed it.
5. Check the court and doc­u­ment package. For Kyiv, verify the court through the of­fi­cial Ju­di­cial Power service and confirm venue under the current Civil Pro­ce­dure Code and the cir­cum­stances of the ap­pli­cant and re­spon­dent. Attach copies of the child’s doc­u­ments, the parties’ details, cal­cu­la­tions, ev­i­dence and all other re­quired doc­u­ments. A claimant in a child support case is exempt from court fees, but related claims should be checked sep­a­rate­ly.
6. File the ap­pli­ca­tion and keep proof of the date. The filing date affects when the award begins. For paper filing, keep the clerk’s receipt or postal records; for elec­tron­ic filing, retain the system re­ceipts.
7. Obtain the en­force­ment doc­u­ment. A court order is itself an en­force­ment doc­u­ment; after a judg­ment in claim pro­ceed­ings, a writ of ex­e­cu­tion is usually re­quired. Check its details, whether it has taken effect where re­quired, and how to submit it for en­force­ment. If en­force­ment pro­ceed­ings are already open, check their status using the guide how to check en­force­ment pro­ceed­ings.

What to check before filing

First, dis­tin­guish three dif­fer­ent figures. The guar­an­teed minimum is the statu­to­ry floor. The rec­om­mend­ed minimum is the sub­sis­tence minimum, subject to the payer’s ability to pay. Ten sub­sis­tence min­i­mums is a cap specif­i­cal­ly for a share of income sought by court order. None of these figures alone pre­dicts the amount a court will set in claim pro­ceed­ings.

Check that the in­for­ma­tion about income is com­plete. Wages are not the only pos­si­ble in­di­ca­tor of fi­nan­cial cir­cum­stances. The law allows the court to con­sid­er assets, funds, proven ex­pens­es, other de­pen­dants and other cir­cum­stances. At the same time, claims about hidden income or valu­able assets must be sup­port­ed by ad­mis­si­ble ev­i­dence, not as­sump­tions.

Do not include every one-time expense in or­di­nary monthly support without analy­sis. Ex­pens­es arising from special cir­cum­stances—such as the de­vel­op­ment of a child’s abil­i­ties, illness or injury—may form a sep­a­rate claim under Article 185 of the Family Code. Current support, ad­di­tion­al ex­pens­es, arrears and penal­ties have dif­fer­ent legal bases and require dif­fer­ent cal­cu­la­tions.

If support has already been awarded or agreed in a con­tract, the new request may concern a change in amount or method, arrears or li­a­bil­i­ty rather than an initial claim. A sep­a­rate guide to claim­ing a late-payment penalty and a monthly penalty cal­cu­la­tor cover late pay­ments. Do not use them as a sub­sti­tute for de­ter­min­ing child support in the first place.

Also account for the special rule for court orders. A debtor cannot use the general ap­pli­ca­tion pro­ce­dure to cancel child support orders under para­graphs 4 and 5 of Article 161 of the Civil Pro­ce­dure Code. The debtor may still bring a claim to reduce support, and an order may be re­viewed for newly dis­cov­ered cir­cum­stances. The sim­pli­fied pro­ce­dure there­fore does not rule out future dis­putes about the amount.

When to consult a lawyer

Legal review is es­pe­cial­ly useful if the payer’s income is ir­reg­u­lar or un­of­fi­cial, they run a busi­ness, own valu­able prop­er­ty, have ex­pens­es with no clear source, or support other chil­dren or de­pen­dants. In such a case, it is im­por­tant to choose a method of re­cov­ery that can be sub­stan­ti­at­ed and re­al­is­ti­cal­ly en­forced.

Help may also be needed if support for a past period is sought, the child’s parent­age is dis­put­ed, the payer lives abroad, several claims need to be com­bined, or a pre­vi­ous order or de­ci­sion no longer re­flects the child’s needs. These sit­u­a­tions go beyond a stan­dard ap­pli­ca­tion for a court order.

For a case in Kyiv, a lawyer can check venue, the needs cal­cu­la­tion, avail­able in­for­ma­tion about income and assets, the wording of the claim and the doc­u­ment package for paper or elec­tron­ic filing. The purpose of this review is not to promise a par­tic­u­lar amount, but to choose the proper route and make the claim clear, sup­port­ed by ev­i­dence and en­force­able.