QCOSTARICA — The Family Procedural Reform that went into effect today, October 1, 2024, changes the rules for corporal punishment for non-payment of alimony. This means that any person over 65 years of age jailed for non-payment of alimony or child support must be released.
The Ley de Pensiones Alimentarias (Alimony Law), which will cease to operate with the entry into force of the Family Procedural Code, establishes the minimum limit for corporal punishment for non-payment of alimony at the age of majority (18 years) and the maximum at 71 years.
The Family Procedural Code reduces the maximum limit by 6 years, in accordance with the Ley de Protección Integral a Personas Adultas Mayores (Law for Comprehensive Protection of Seniors).
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“Basically, what this country is betting on is not having elderly people pressured for not paying child support,” explained Eddy Rodríguez Chaves, who has more than 30 years of experience in the Judiciary, occupying positions as a Judge in family matters, child support, childhood, adolescence and domestic violence.
Read more: Child support process in Costa Rica changes starting today
Also, the Family Procedural Code (Ley Law 9747) introduces a tiered system for the corporal punishment of people who meet the requirements. The first time they are arrested and do not pay, they will serve a maximum of 2 months in prison, the second time 4 months and from the third time, 6 months.
With the Child Support Law, which will be repealed, if a person was arrested for a child support debt and did not pay, they could spend a maximum of 6 months in prison from the first infraction.
Another change with respect to the Child Support Law is the power of the judge to consider the health condition of the person who is being pressured for a child support debt.
What the Family Procedural Code proposes is that a person who is pressured and sent to a penitentiary center can request and demonstrate to the judge that he or she has a health condition that could be complicated by being deprived of liberty. In that case, the judge will have the authorization to put his or her life, integrity and health before the debt, exempting the person from the pressure.
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Read more: Costa Rica advances in family justice with the implementation of the new Family Procedural Code
According to Eddy Rodríguez Chaves: “Today, except for some cases that the Constitutional Court has granted, in the Child Support Law there is no possibility that a person, when pressured and sent to a penitentiary center for non-payment of the child support debt, can claim that he or she has a health condition that could be aggravated if pressured. The Family Procedural Code does introduce that possibility.”
Finally, the Family Procedure Code contemplates the possibility of authorizing a night or day coercion when it concerns a person without the resources to pay the amount for which they are being coerced, who has a job opportunity. The coercion would be night if they get a job during the day, and day if they must work the night shift.
It is important to clarify that, according to the Child Support Law, when a person is coerced, the stay in the penitentiary center is 24/7. That is, they remain until they pay the debt or until the 6 months of maximum stay are fulfilled.
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“We see it as an interesting innovation, but we insist that its functionality will depend greatly on the capacity of Social Adaptation to offer safe spaces to people coerced in these conditions,” concluded Eddy Rodríguez Chaves.
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