Is it necessary to possess a translation of a court certificate from Ukrainian into Polish in order to receive a single mother’s allowance?

Update: 07.02.2023

If court decisions required in proceedings to establish the entitlement to family benefits are issued in Ukrainian, they should be translated into Polish by a sworn translator. Ukrainian citizens have not been exempted from this obligation under the Special-purpose Act. 

Family benefits may be available to single parents. A single parent is, for example, a person who is legally separated or divorced. Such a parent must attach to the application for the establishment of the entitlement to family benefits a final court decision ordering a divorce or separation.

Furthermore, in order to receive child benefit, a single parent must present an enforcement order from or approved by a court under which a maintenance payment has been established in favour of the child from its parent. The presentation of such a title is not required if: 

a) the parents or one of the parents of the child is deceased, 

b) the father of the child is unknown,

c) the claim for maintenance from the other parent is dismissed, 

d) the court has ordered one parent to bear the entire maintenance costs of the child and has not ordered the other parent to pay maintenance to the child, 

e) the child, following a court order, is in the custody of both parents for comparable and repeated periods.

Meanwhile, the single parent family allowance supplement is granted if no child maintenance has been ordered from the child’s other parent because: 

1) the child’s other parent is deceased; 

2) the father of the child is unknown;

3) the claim for maintenance from the other parent was dismissed.

Thus, in proceedings to establish the entitlement to family benefits, it may be required to submit a court decision: dismissing the claim for maintenance, obliging only one parent to maintain the child or establishing transitional care. 

It is worth remembering, however, that a single person raising a child may apply for family benefits without a court enforcement order establishing maintenance – even if this is required in order to obtain family benefits. In such a situation, an additional period of three months will be set for the delivery of the enforcement title. If the required documents are submitted by the deadline, family benefits will be payable from the month of application.

Please note that the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Poland indicates that decisions of Ukrainian courts on alimony, which are required in proceedings to establish the right to family benefits, must first be recognised by a Polish court. The recognition of a foreign judgment aims to extend its legal effects to the territory of Poland. Only after the completion of this court procedure, the Ukrainian court’s judgment on alimony is recognised as an enforceable title required in proceedings to establish the right to family benefits. An application for recognition of a Ukrainian court decision should be submitted to a district court in Poland.

The stance of the Minister of Justice can be found here (PL): https://www.gov.pl/attachment/9399b7ba-0d04-4605-886e-d306442e1198.