Lithuanian parliament backs prison-only penalties for deliberate child support evasion
Tuesday 15th September 2026 on 12:30 in
Lithuania
Lithuania’s parliament has backed a proposal to impose prison sentences on parents who deliberately avoid supporting their children, LRT reported.
Lawmakers approved the proposal by social democrat Darius Razmislevičius at its initial stage on Tuesday, with 68 voting in favour, 14 against and 23 abstaining. The bill will now be considered by parliamentary committees.
Presenting the proposal, Razmislevičius said unpaid child support amounted to 200 million and argued that the current provision of the Criminal Code was not working.
The law currently allows people who fail to comply with a court order to support a child by paying maintenance or providing other necessary material assistance to receive community service, restriction of liberty, arrest or imprisonment for up to two years.
The amendments would remove community service, restriction of liberty and arrest as possible penalties, leaving imprisonment of up to two years as the only option. The punishment would apply only in cases of deliberate failure to pay child support.
Such deliberate evasion would include hiding income or assets, working unofficially, transferring assets to third parties to avoid the support obligation, or refusing to take a job despite having a realistic opportunity to work. It would also include cases in which a person who fails to provide support demonstrates sufficient financial means to pay for personal needs, travel, entertainment or luxury goods.
Razmislevičius said the measure was intended to punish deliberate offenders, provide a deterrent and produce results as a last resort.
Daiva Ulbinaitė, a representative of the opposition conservatives, said imprisonment for deliberately avoiding child support would be excessive. She questioned how the measure would affect families and said children would have to be told that their father or mother was in prison.
This is not the only measure under consideration in parliament. In May, lawmakers backed at its initial stage another proposal by Razmislevičius that would allow people who fail to comply with a court decision on child support to lose the right to drive vehicles, hunt, operate inland watercraft, obtain recreational fishing permits, or acquire and possess hunting firearms.