Elena Gladysheva, Managing Partner of RI-Consulting about mistakes before and during marriage.

"One of the most common mistakes made by women both before and during marriage is not thinking about the coming maternity leave, or rather about their financial situation during this beautiful period. Yes, of course, young mothers receive maternity and child care benefits, as well as some types of social benefits. However, there are certain conditions for receiving such payments - at least in order to receive maternity benefits it is necessary to work for a couple of years, as the amount of social benefits does not allow to support themselves and the child without working.

In practice, unfortunately, there are often situations where a woman with a newborn child is left alone for any reason - her partner, regardless of whether they were married or not, sometimes inclines to break up, or simply does not give money to support the child.

As a rule, such issues are resolved in court, when a woman gets her hands on it and has time to collect alimony from a negligent father.

Not many people know, by the way, that child support can be recovered not only for the child, but also for a woman during pregnancy and before the child reaches the age of three.

A vivid example from our practice - a woman got married and had a baby. She became pregnant with her second child and almost immediately found out that her husband was cheating on her. Her husband told her straight out that he didn't want children, he wouldn't support anyone, her children were her problem. What should a woman do in such a case? In a situation where no safety net has been built in advance and time has already passed, the only thing to do is to come to terms with her ex-husband (or almost ex-husband) or go to court.

Could something have been foreseen in advance to protect the interests of a woman in the most pleasant period of life? Yes, of course.

In the case of an official marriage, it was possible to conclude a marriage contract, even if without division of property, with only one obligation of the husband - to pay his wife maintenance (alimony) during pregnancy and until the child reaches the age of three. By the way, the law does not prohibit extending the period of alimony payments, if both parties agree to this.

At the same time, the condition of maintenance of a spouse may be included in a marriage contract and before the birth of a child, that is, everything can be agreed on in advance, when no conflict has arisen yet.

After the birth of a child, regardless of whether they are married or not, young parents should consider signing an alimony agreement, in which they can also spell out all the conditions for supporting the child. Maintenance of the spouse can also be spelled out in the alimony agreement, including the civil spouse - until the child reaches the age of three. You should note that such agreements must be certified by a notary and have the force of a writ of execution - which means that they can be submitted directly to the bailiffs for the recovery of alimony, bypassing the judicial process.

The main conditions that need to be stipulated in an alimony agreement are the amount and procedure for paying alimony to the child, to the child's mother, and the possibility for the father to incur additional expenses (education, medical treatment, recreation, and others). In addition, the agreement can now include even the right to invest in low-risk financial instruments in the interests of the child - the main thing is that such investments are exceptionally profitable (traditionally these are bank deposits)", - noted the Advocate.

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