NON-PAYMENT OF PENSIONS

Article 227 of the Penal Code regulates the crime of non-payment of pensions, which includes two criminal modalities:

• Failure to pay for 2 consecutive months or 4 non-consecutive months any financial benefit in favor of your spouse or your children, established in a judicially approved agreement or judicial resolution in cases of legal separation, divorce, declaration of nullity of marriage, filiation process, or process of alimony in favor of your children. In relation to this modality, the Supreme Court has established that it requires the concurrence of the following elements (STS No. 348/2020 of June 25):
• The existence of a final judicial decision or agreement approved by the competent judicial authority that establishes any type of economic benefit in favor of a spouse or the children of the marriage.
• An omissive conduct on the part of the party obliged to pay, consisting of repeated non-payment of the economic benefit established for 2 consecutive months or 4 non-consecutive months. Particularly problematic are the cases in which there is a partial breach of the obligation, i.e. when the author only pays a part of the economic benefit due, cases which, according to the Supreme Court, require an individualized analysis of the circumstances (STS no. 185/2001).
• A subjective element configured by the knowledge of the judicial decision and the will to breach the obligation to render the service imposed by it. The Courts require that the perpetrator has the possibility of meeting the obligation imposed (that he has the money to meet the economic obligation), since otherwise the breach of the obligation would not be voluntary.
• Failure to pay any other financial benefit established jointly or solely in the cases provided for in the preceding paragraph.

The penalty associated with both modalities is imprisonment of 3 months to 1 year or a fine of 6 to 24 months.