Latvia’s unpaid child support debt tops 400 million euros

Unpaid child support debts in Latvia have exceeded 400 million euros, while collection remains slow, LSM reported. Around 42,000 people owe maintenance, and 88% of them are men.

The state Maintenance Guarantee Fund pays support for tens of thousands of children whose other parent does not meet their obligations. The monthly amount paid by the fund is lower than the minimum maintenance set for parents: 155 euros for a child under seven and 180 euros for an older child.

Some debts are difficult to collect because vehicles may be registered in another person’s name and debtors may have no official income. There is no limitation period for child support debts.

Two parents who raise primary-school-age children alone and receive payments from the fund spoke to Latvian Television anonymously. One mother said a court ordered her child’s father to pay 400 euros a month. He lives in the United Kingdom and did not take part in the court proceedings. Debt collection has been under way for more than a year and a half.

The mother said she initially avoided going to court because she did not want to damage their relationship. She later decided it was in her child’s interests, adding that the accumulated debt could help pay for the child’s future and education.

While the fund makes payments, the non-paying parent accumulates both the difference between the fund’s payment and the court-ordered amount owed to the child, and a debt to the fund. LSM’s report said collection in the United Kingdom is also slow and uncertain.