Every parent, regardless of citizenship, religion or financial situation, has a duty to help support and raise their child. When parents disagree — for example, the child’s father believes the mother’s financial demands are excessive, or he provides no financial support for the child at all — there are several ways to resolve the conflict. Using our client’s case as an example, we explain which route proved most effective in her situation.
25%
of monthly earnings for one child
33%
of monthly earnings for two children
50%
for three or more children
Section 01
Family Mediation: A Tool That Really Works
Key fact
Any marital or family conflict can be resolved out of court, provided both sides are ready for constructive dialogue. To organise that dialogue, the parties often turn to a mediator.
Legally speaking, mediation is negotiation between the parties with the participation of a mediator, aimed at settling their dispute by working out a mutually acceptable agreement. In Belarus, mediation may only be carried out by specialists who have completed training and received the relevant certificate from the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Belarus.
Since family mediation is the fastest-growing area of mediation, our team suggested using this tool. With the client’s consent, we contacted the other parent and his representatives to discuss the details of the procedure. In our negotiations with our foreign colleagues, we highlighted the advantages of mediation:
Advantages of mediation
- Speed: anything from a few days to a couple of weeks may pass between the start of the procedure and the signing of a mediation agreement;
- Cost savings: legal fees are significantly reduced;
- The mediation agreement can be enforced if the agreed terms are breached.
In our experience, working with the other side’s lawyers (especially when they represent a foreign client) is only effective when strict deadlines are agreed for each step. After the previously agreed deadline for comments was missed yet again, we withdrew from the negotiations and concluded that, at this stage, the dispute could not be settled through mediation.
Next step
We therefore started preparing the documents for court.
Section 02
Foreign Defendants in Belarusian Civil Proceedings: What Has Changed in 2026
Legally, child support can be recovered through the courts regardless of whether the parents are still married when they go to court or are already divorced.
Courts can award child support either in simplified court-order proceedings or by hearing a statement of claim. In court-order proceedings, the court issues a ruling based solely on the documents submitted by the parties: there are no hearings as such, and the judge decides without summoning the parties.
Important
However, this route is not available to claimants in Belarus if the debtor is abroad.
In this situation, the best solution is to recover child support through “classic” claim proceedings.
In claim proceedings, the claimant must file a statement of claim with the court, together with evidence of the right to receive child support. The court, with the participation of the parties or their representatives, examines the evidence and the defendant’s objections and, having established the circumstances of the case, delivers a judgment.
Previously, there was legal uncertainty as to whether Belarusian courts had jurisdiction over disputes with a foreign defendant. In particular, on a literal reading of the procedural rules, a child support claim could be brought before a Belarusian court only if the foreign defendant had a place of residence in Belarus. A place of residence is not a foreigner’s temporary registration or place of temporary stay, but the address where they are presumed to live under the relevant residence permit.
This undoubtedly made it harder to secure judicial protection for minors whose parents were not prepared to go to a foreign court in the defendant’s country of residence to claim child support.
New from 1 January 2026
From 1 January 2026, the new procedural code contains an express rule: if the claimant lives in Belarus, they may bring a child support claim before a Belarusian court, wherever the defendant is located.
This choice by the legislator gives additional guarantees to minors, who are, in essence, the ultimate beneficiaries of child support proceedings.
Section 03
Enforcing a Belarusian Court Judgment in Another Country
The Republic of Belarus ratified the Convention on the International Recovery of Child Support and Other Forms of Family Maintenance (the 2007 Hague Convention) in 2018. The Convention creates a mechanism for recognising and enforcing decisions, but enforcement follows the procedures of the state where enforcement is sought.
The defendant was a British citizen, and the United Kingdom, like Belarus, has assumed obligations under the Convention.
Under the Code of the Republic of Belarus on Marriage and Family, child support for minor children is set at the following rates: 25 per cent of the parents’ monthly earnings for one child, 33 per cent for two children, and 50 per cent for three or more children. The main difficulties arise at the enforcement stage. Different countries define income differently, so child support calculated as a percentage of income under Belarusian law may raise further questions when the judgment is enforced abroad. That is why, at the stage of opening the civil case, we decided to seek child support as a fixed sum of money. Belarusian law allows this remedy.
Watch out
An important factor in whether the judgment can be enforced is proper notification of the defendant of the date and time of the hearing in Belarus. For this purpose, the court sets a main and a reserve hearing date, and summonses are served on the other party through international channels.
Key fact
Importantly, whenever the judgment is delivered, if the claim is granted, child support is calculated not from the date of the judgment but from the date the claim was filed. This is an additional guarantee that a minor will receive financial support from a bad-faith parent.