Latvia still has about 42,000 people with unpaid child-maintenance obligations, and the total debt is above €400 million. The Maintenance Guarantee Fund says the principal stands at €312 million, with a further €112 million in statutory interest. Collection remains slow, and the debt does not expire.
Thousands of children are looked after by only one parent. The state, through the guarantee fund, helps support the child while the parent who takes no part in care adds to the debt each month.
Latvian Television spoke anonymously with two parents who raise primary-school-age children on their own and receive payments from the fund. A single mother obtained a court order requiring the child's father to pay €400 a month. He lives in Britain, did not take part in the case, and enforcement has continued for more than a year and a half. She said the family has been paid by the fund for the whole time the ruling has been in force, while the unpaid difference owed to the child, plus the debt to the fund, has become a large sum. She had not wanted to go to court, hoping to avoid a complete break, but later decided recovery was in her children's interests and could still support the child's future and education even if the money arrived years later. Enforcement in Britain, the report says, is slow and unclear.
A single father has cared for his child alone since the child's second year. He said the mother has not paid since the judgment, has long not used her contact rights, and ignored the bailiff's papers. The child now receives €180 a month from the guarantee fund, which he said is not enough. He tries not to deny the child things other children have. School runs, care and training have to be fitted around work. His mother, the child's grandmother, helps. He works long hours and said that without relatives he would need another job with fewer hours and lower pay.
Linda Sparāne, head of the fund's legal department, said debtors are not always easy to find. Eleven per cent have no declared address, 12 per cent list an address abroad, and there is no information on 3 per cent, who also have no personal identity code. Only 12 per cent of debtors are women and 88 per cent are men. Ninety-four per cent are of working age, and the largest group, 36 per cent, are aged 40 to 49.
People who do not pay maintenance often have other debts. Registered debtors together account for almost 330,000 recovery cases, and about one in five concerns maintenance. Restrictions can include a ban on using a driving licence: about 2,300 debtors currently have an active ban, where a person holds a valid licence, is not paying and has not reached an agreement. A weapons ban can also be applied, and on average 3,500 debtors a month are barred from gambling. Limits on certain posts and other burdens also apply.
Sparāne said the repayment trend is positive when measured by agreements. The fund has agreements with 5,600 debtors, about 1,000 more than last year, and she said people are showing interest, settling and starting to pay.
Andris Spore, chairman of the Latvian Council of Sworn Bailiffs, said there is no limitation period, so the debt will have to be repaid sooner or later. He said the important step is for the debtor to come forward and resolve the situation with bailiffs or with the Maintenance Guarantee Fund. Recovery is difficult when there is no official income and no property in the debtor's name. A car someone drives may be leased or registered to someone else, and a Latvian bailiff can pursue money only in Latvian credit institutions. Spore said funds held with providers such as Paysera and Revolut are out of reach because they sit outside Latvia.
The two parents' experience shows that recovery can be long and difficult, while a child's needs cannot be put off.
On Thursday the Saeima backed, at first reading, amendments to the Maintenance Guarantee Fund Law that would restore fund payments at the full statutory minimum. That would require €20 million in 2027. Aiva Vīksna of the United List, chair of the Saeima Budget and Finance Committee, called it a complex solution involving not only the €20 million but also a tougher approach to non-payers and preparation to recover money from people who do not meet their obligations. The bill's annotation says the gap has widened because the minimum wage has risen: for children up to seven, the state-guaranteed amount is €40 below the minimum maintenance, and for older children the difference reaches €54. Politicians have said the question will fall to the next parliament.