Doina Gherman
A corresponding draft law has been registered in Parliament. It provides for stricter sanctions for debtors on alimony.
In particular, administrative arrest for up to 15 days or up to 60 hours of unpaid work in favor of society may be introduced for evasion of alimony payments. In addition, debtors may be banned from leaving the country – the restriction will be applied when attempting to cross the state border.
Another important change concerns the status of children. According to the draft, it is they who will be considered direct beneficiaries and creditors of alimony, in order to exclude arguments that the money is allegedly misused.
The bill also proposes to change the procedure for establishing a schedule of meetings with the child after divorce. Currently, such a schedule is set by the guardianship authorities, but the authors of the initiative propose to transfer this competence directly to the judiciary.
“In Moldova, and not only, there are so-called non-paying fathers who evade paying alimony for years. One fine is not enough, that is why we propose new sanctions,” said Deputy Speaker of Parliament Doina Gherman.
The initiative envisions changes to the Family Code, the Contravention Code and the Executive Code. The first round of public consultations on the draft is scheduled for March 20.
UPDATE 2 April 2026
Parliament has passed, at first reading, a bill tightening sanctions against parents who evade paying child maintenance. According to statistics, only 4.7% of children currently receive child maintenance on a regular basis. In many cases, arrears amounting to 10–18 years of non-payment have been recorded.
