The answer to this question may be somewhat surprising. Polish law, under the provisions of the Family and Guardianship Code, imposes alimony obligations in certain cases (which have already been described in detail on this page).
The problem of non-payment of alimony is, unfortunately, a clearly noticeable phenomenon.
This clearly negative phenomenon was also noticed by the legislator, who, in order to combat this problem, introduced severe sanctions for failure to meet the alimony obligation, including the most serious ones – criminal sanctions.
In accordance with Article 209 §1 of the Penal Code, non-payment of alimony is a crime.
A person who evades the obligation to pay alimony
- 1. specified in terms of the amount by a court decision, a settlement concluded before a court or another body or another agreement,
- 2. if the total amount of arrears resulting from this is the equivalent of at least 3 periodic benefits
- 3. or if the delay in the arrears of a benefit other than periodic benefits is at least 3 months,
shall be subject to a fine, restriction of liberty or imprisonment for up to one year.
This provision should be considered quite severe, which is an expression of justified disapproval of this type of action. Moreover, the Code also introduces a qualified type of the crime of non-payment of alimony, punishable by a higher penalty.
If failure to pay alimony exposes the entitled person to the inability to satisfy basic living needs, the perpetrator may be deprived of liberty for up to 2 years (Article 209 §1a of the Criminal Code).
Non-payment of alimony is a crime prosecuted at the request of the injured party, a social welfare body or a body taking action against the alimony debtor.
However, if the person entitled to alimony has been granted appropriate family benefits or cash benefits paid in the event of ineffective enforcement of alimony, then the prosecution is carried out ex officio.
So to answer the question posed at the beginning – failure to pay alimony can have serious consequences, including even a prison sentence.