Learn more about how to receive and what you can spend maternity capital on for the birth of your first child. We collected all the subtleties and nuances in one article.

Maternal (family) capital for the first child is an additional measure of state support for families in which the first child was born or adopted since January 1, 2020. If the first child was born before 2020, then federal maternity capital is not provided for by law.

The document confirming your right to state support is the state certificate for maternity (family) capital .

Maternity capital is accrued automatically (proactively) after registering the birth of a child or receiving an adoption certificate at the registry office.

Maternity capital amount

At the birth or adoption of the first child in 2023, the law provides 586,947 rubles . This amount is credited after the SFR (Social Fund of Russia) receives information about the registration of the birth (adoption) of the first child.

Maternity capital per child was introduced in 2020 . Its amount is indexed annually from February 1 depending on the increase in consumer prices over the previous year. The indexation coefficient is determined each time by the government.

The size of maternity capital is affected by the amount of the balance and the consumer price growth index for the previous year. The amount may differ from the data above if you have already spent part of the capital. To make sure that maternity capital is accrued, you can look at the account balance.

For 2024–2026, the projected amount is indicated, which is calculated according to official data from the Russian Ministry of Finance. If you are planning a birth or adoption next year, you can focus on approximately this amount of payment. The exact amount will be established from February 1 of the corresponding year and published on the official website of the SFR.

What can you spend maternity capital on?

After receiving the matcap (you can verify this by looking at the balance), you must determine where to send it. The state provides legal directions (Basic Law, Article 7) for such expenses:

• improvement of living conditions: ○ for the purchase of residential premises;○ for the construction or reconstruction of an inidual housing construction project (IHC): – independent (without the involvement of an organization carrying out the construction or reconstruction of the facility); – under a construction contract;
• receipt of education by a child (paid educational services of licensed public and private kindergartens, secondary schools, colleges, universities, institutions of additional education);
• formation of a funded pension for women ;
• acquisition of goods and services for social adaptation and integration into society of disabled children;
• receiving a monthly payment in connection with the birth (adoption) of a child until he reaches the age of three years.

The legal areas for spending maternity capital are indicated above; their conditions and method of receipt do not depend on the number of children. Later we will consider each of the areas in separate articles, where we will describe in detail the conditions and the step-by-step process of receiving payment.

Who is entitled to maternity capital?

The right to receive maternity capital arises at the birth or adoption of the first child who has the citizenship of the Russian Federation (F3 No. 62 of May 31, 2022, Article 12). There are also additional requirements for parents (guardians), which are specified in the basic law (Article 3).

Requirements for parents (guardians):

• A woman who gave birth or adopted her first child since January 1, 2020.
• A man raising the first child born starting from January 1, 2020, and being his father or adoptive parent – in the event of the death of a woman who did not have Russian citizenship, who gave birth to the specified child, or she was declared dead.
• A man who is the sole adoptive parent of the first child, if the court decision on adoption entered into legal force on January 1, 2020.
• A man raising the first child (natural or adopted), if the woman is deprived of parental rights / limited in them or if her adoption of the child was canceled by the court.
• A man who raises a child born by a surrogate mother, if he marries the woman who adopted the child (ruling of the Constitutional Court, since 2023).
• Children under the age of 23 if their parents have lost the right to receive payments.

Note that the law (Article 3) specifies situations when maternity capital cannot be provided to a parent or guardian.

How to get maternity capital

From April 15, 2020, maternity capital will be issued automatically (proactive registration), that is, without application . At the birth or adoption of a child, parents must register him with the registry office, and after receiving a birth (adoption) certificate, the process of automatic registration of maternity capital will begin. This usually takes 5 days from the date of registration of the child.

If after this time the certificate has not arrived in your personal account on the government services website, then to apply for maternity capital you need to contact the Social Fund (SFR) or MFC with the necessary documents.

List of documents (taken from State Services):

• Passport of the parent or guardian.
• Child’s SNILS.
• Child’s birth certificate.
• A document that confirms the occurrence of special circumstances:○ death certificate of a woman who gave birth or adopted children;○ decision of the guardianship and trusteeship authorities to deprive a woman who gave birth or adopted children of parental rights;○ court decision on a woman committing a deliberate crime against the person of a child (any of children);○ death certificates of parents (adoptive parents);○ decision of the guardianship and trusteeship authorities to deprive parents (adoptive parents) of parental rights;○ decision to cancel the adoption of a child, in connection with which the right to maternity capital arose.

Statement of the balance of maternity capital for the first child Statement of the balance of maternity capital for the first child

In accordance with the basic law (Article 5), the decision to issue a certificate or refuse is made by the Financial Markets Service, considering the application on average 10 days from the date of its receipt. In case of refusal in your personal account on the State Services portal (if you are registered there) or through the MFC, the family receives a notification about the specific reasons for the refusal.

Moreover, the issued certificate does not have an expiration date – after receiving it, it can be used at least 10 years later. But for most possible purposes (except for paying off the principal debt or down payment on a mortgage) – no earlier than three years from the date of birth of the child.

Reasons for refusal to issue maternity capital:

• There is no right to receive maternity capital.
• termination of the right to receive (death of a woman, declaration of her death, deprivation of parental rights or cancellation of adoption);
• voluntary abandonment of the child by parents;
• adoption of a stepson or stepdaughter;
• submission of false information to the SFR about the order of birth (adoption) or the citizenship of the child;
• if the maternity capital has already been used in full earlier.

Monthly payment from maternity capital

If the average per capita family income does not exceed twice the subsistence minimum per capita, then you can use a monthly payment from maternity capital.

In 2023, the monthly payment for one (each) child is 13,944 rubles (F3 No. 466 dated December 5, 2022, Article 8). It is important that this payment can be used until the child reaches the age of three and only if he was born or adopted starting from January 1, 2018. Every year the payment amount is automatically recalculated (without application).

You can direct maternity capital funds to receive a monthly payment through: “Government Services, MFC, SFR.

Regional maternity capital

The subsidy for the first child in the amount of 586,947 rubles, which we discussed above, is federal maternity capital, which is issued in all regions of Russia. But some of them also have their own regional legislation to support families with children. Often we are also talking about payments to families in which the first child was born or adopted.

The conditions for providing regional maternity capital differ in each subject. For example, in the Moscow region there is a law “On regional maternal (family) capital”, the appendix to which states that the amount of a one-time benefit for the birth of the first child is 20 thousand rubles .

You can apply for regional maternity capital (using the example of the Moscow region):

• Online on the Portal of state and municipal services of the Moscow region.
• In person at the MFC of the Moscow region.

Conditions for receiving, direction of spending and terms may differ in each region – all this is prescribed in local legislation.

Question answer

What happens if the first child dies?

In the event of the death of the first child or his declaration as deceased, the right to additional measures of state support ceases.

If twins were born in a family, which of them will receive maternity capital? Or will the subsidy double?

No, maternity capital does not double in this case. Its amount for the birth of two children at once in 2023 will be 775,628.25 rubles. In this case, maternity capital is received not by children, but by adults, usually the mother of the child. Therefore, it does not matter which of the twins will be considered the first child.

What if the first child is already 18 years old?

In this case, you are not entitled to payment for it. But even if your first child is an adult and has had his own family for a long time, at the birth of the second after January 1, 2007, you have the right to receive maternity capital.