Fathers added maternity capital – Newspaper Kommersant No. 44 (7489) of 03/16/2023

On Wednesday, the State Duma adopted in the first reading a government bill that expands the circle of applicants for mother capital. Men who at the time of the birth of their children from surrogate mothers were the only official parent of these children will be entitled to the payment. The Ministry of Labor specified that 19 such fathers had previously been denied a certificate for mother capital. According to the authors of the initiative, after the adoption of the document, budget expenditures will amount to 10.4 million rubles. However, in the future, a situation where a child born under the procedure of surrogate motherhood legally has a father, but no mother, is hardly possible – according to the new law on surrogate motherhood in Russia, only single Russian women or childless married couples can use the service.

The bill on expanding the rights of fathers to maternity capital was submitted by the government to the State Duma in December 2021. It grants these rights to men who are the sole parents of the second, third and subsequent children born to them after January 1, 2007, as well as the first child born after January 1, 2020, as a result of the use of surrogacy. At the same time, the opportunity to receive mother capital appears only if the man has already married and is raising children together with his wife who adopted them. The amendments also provide that in the event of the death of the father or the deprivation of his parental rights, his spouse can receive additional support measures. If a woman dies or adoption is canceled in her respect, the rights to the mother capital are transferred to children under the age of majority, or adults studying full-time in an educational organization, until the end of such training, but not longer than 23 years.

The explanatory note states that the right of a man to additional measures of state support on the occasion of the birth of a child is derived from the right of a woman and can be exercised only if the woman’s right to these measures has ceased on the grounds established by law (died, deprived of parental right).

So far, only the situation has not been taken into account when the child legally did not have a mother at all, that is, he was born as a result of artificial insemination, and a surrogate mother bore the fetus.

The draft law that fills this gap was developed by the Ministry of Labor in pursuance of the decision of the Constitutional Court of Russia dated June 29, 2021. As previously told “Kommersant”, the reason for the decision of the Constitutional Court was the request of the Konakovo District Court of the Tver Region, which considered the case of citizen T. The man appealed against the refusal to provide maternity capital for two daughters born to him by a surrogate mother. In October 2019, he received through the court the birth certificates of his children, where there were dashes in the “mother” column, and he was recognized as their father. Later, T. married, and his wife adopted the girls. First, she, and then T. himself, applied to the Pension Fund for additional measures of state support, but were refused.

It should be noted that now families with children born with the help of assisted reproductive technologies are guaranteed state support, however, only a woman, recorded in the birth certificate as the mother of the child, is entitled to receive maternity capital.

The Constitutional Court concluded that fathers in the same situation “are unreasonably deprived of this kind of state support, which is inconsistent with the Constitution,” and ordered the legislators to rectify the situation.

Recall that the law on materiel for the second (and subsequent) child was adopted in the wake of the message of Russian President Vladimir Putin in May 2006. From January 1, 2020, the payment is also provided for the birth of the first child. From February 1, 2023, it is 524.5 thousand rubles, for the second and subsequent children – 693.1 thousand rubles. The Ministry of Labor indicated that, according to the territorial bodies of the PFR, 19 men who had children from surrogate mothers were denied a certificate for mother capital. According to the authors of the initiative, immediately after its adoption, budget expenditures will amount to 10.4 million rubles. However, in the future, a situation where a child born under the procedure of surrogate motherhood legally has a father, but no mother, is hardly possible. In December 2022, the State Duma adopted amendments to the legislation on surrogate motherhood. They suggest that only married Russians or single Russian citizens who cannot give birth to a child for medical reasons will be able to use such services.

The significance of the bill was highly appreciated by the chairman of the Union of Fathers Yuri Solenov. According to him, “there is an equalization in the legal field of the rights of both men and women to parenthood.” However, he notes, questions may arise in future litigation. For example, a citizen of which state can a surrogate mother be. This is not indicated in the text of the bill, Mr. Solenov points out. However, the new law on surrogate motherhood providesthat only a citizen of Russia can bear a child for other people.

The chairman of the board of the all-Russian public organization for the support of motherhood and childhood “Council of Mothers” Tatyana Butskaya previously emphasized that measures that expand opportunities for obtaining maternity capital are primarily aimed at protecting the rights of the child to state support. Oksana Pushkina, ex-deputy head of the Duma Committee on Family, Women and Children, spoke positively about the decision of the Constitutional Court, which started it all: “The just letter of the law has triumphed, and our state is on the right course towards family and social policy.”

The bill is being prepared for the second reading. The website of the State Duma states that amendments can be made until April 13.

Natalia Kostarnova