Interesting Second Degree Family Court (SDFC) decision regarding how the single family government benefit should be treated by family courts in alimony cases was issued in 24.6.21 in the case of Konyalian v. Paskulov.
In alimony cases, the court after examining the evidence given by the two parents, estimates the total monthly expenses required for the child and then decides on the percentage each parent should cover based on their income.
According to the law, a person who is eligible for the single parent benefit loses the right when he passes away, when he gets married or co-habitates, when the child no longer lives with her or is over 18 or when her income is more than a specified limit (among others).
The SDFC noted that the above law makes the single parent benefit a nontransferable and personalised right of the parent who receives it and only seizes to be given if the person dies or marries or by other ways connected to the person of the beneficiary. As a non-transferable right is connected to the person and cannot be expropriated for the benefit of a third party (in this case the child).
Therefore, the SDFC by allowing the relevant ground of appeal, decided that the first instance court wrongly deducted the single parent benefit from the expenses of the children. It should have been taken into account with rest of the income of the appellant/parent instead. For the entire decision of the SDFC (in Greek) follow this link: (http://www.cylaw.org/cgi-bin/open.pl?file=apofaseis/aad/meros_1/2021/1-202106-2-20fam.htm&qstring=KONYALIAN
By Stephanos Papatheodorou
