How can a claimant find out the debtor's place of residence abroad to receive alimony?

Recently, the question of how a claimant can find out the debtor's place of residence abroad in order to further receive alimony has been raised more and more often.

If the applicant does not have such information, it is impossible to enforce a decision on the recovery of alimony made by a Ukrainian court in the territory of the relevant foreign state, and in the absence of such information, it is impossible to file an application for the recovery of alimony.

It should be emphasized that the legal basis for a Ukrainian citizen to receive child support from a child's father or mother permanently residing in a foreign country is an international agreement between Ukraine and the relevant foreign country on legal assistance regulating the fulfillment of child support obligations. Information about the debtor's address abroad may also be requested on the basis of such an international agreement, if the agreement itself provides for it.

The most widely used international treaty of Ukraine in the field of enforcement of alimony obligations is the Hague Convention on the International Recovery of Child Support and Other Forms of Family Maintenance of 2007, which entered into force for Ukraine on November 1, 2013 and is currently applied in relations with 49 member states.

The Convention provides that the central authorities of the contracting states are vested with the functions of assisting in establishing the location of the debtor or creditor.

According to the Explanatory Note of the Special Commission to the Convention on the International Recovery of Child Support and Other Forms of Family Maintenance, assistance in locating the debtor or creditor may be provided upon receipt of the application referred to in Article 10 of the Convention from the applicant, when it is known or believed that the debtor or creditor is located in the requested State. Assistance in establishing the location of the debtor or creditor may also be provided before the application is sent, if it is necessary to establish whether the debtor or creditor is located in the requested state.

Thus, an interested person who does not know the debtor's place of residence abroad has the right, on the basis of the Convention, to apply to the competent authority of the requested Convention contracting state with an application for establishing the debtor's place of residence.

The application, which, as noted above, is addressed to the central authority of the requested Convention contracting state, is made in any form, in the official language of that state or accompanied by a certified translation into such language. The application must include the debtor's surname, name and patronymic, personal data and any available information about the debtor that will facilitate the search for his or her location.

The application is sent to the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine directly or through its territorial bodies - interregional departments.

The Ministry of Justice of Ukraine forwards this application to the central authority of the relevant Convention contracting state for further consideration.

Subsequently, the information received by the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine from the central authority of the Convention Contracting State upon consideration of the application shall be communicated to the person concerned.