The Supreme Court distinguished cases when alcohol is a ground for refusal to pay the family of a deceased serviceman

The Supreme Court formulated an important legal conclusion regarding the payment of a one-time financial aid to families of deceased servicemen. The mere fact of detecting alcohol in the body of the deceased is not sufficient grounds for refusal of such payment. If the Ministry of Defense refers to Article 16-4 of the Law "On Social and Legal Protection of Servicemen and Their Families," it must prove that the death occurred as a result of the serviceman's actions while intoxicated or due to the direct pathological effect of alcohol on the body.

Circumstances of the case

The mother of the deceased serviceman applied to the court after the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine refused to grant a one-time financial aid.

The Ministry of Defense commission cited paragraph "b" of part one of Article 16-4 of the Law "On Social and Legal Protection of Servicemen and Their Families" as grounds for refusal. According to the agency, since the serviceman died while performing a combat mission in a state of alcohol intoxication, the family has no right to receive aid.

However, case materials showed that the senior lieutenant served as a commander of a rifle platoon. In July 2024, during a combat mission near the village of Hlyboke in Kharkiv region, he came under enemy artillery fire and sustained fatal injuries. These circumstances were confirmed by an official investigation report, an order from the military unit commander, a military-medical commission decision, and a forensic medical examination conclusion.

During forensic toxicological examination, ethyl alcohol was found in the deceased's tissues at a concentration of 1.87 per mille. This fact became the basis for the Ministry of Defense's refusal to pay.

The courts of first and appellate instances concluded that the Ministry of Defense commission's decision was unlawful, annulled it, and obliged the Ministry of Defense to reconsider the serviceman's mother's application taking into account the court's legal assessment. The Ministry of Defense appealed this decision to the Supreme Court.

What the Supreme Court stated

The Administrative Cassation Court dismissed the Ministry of Defense's cassation appeal and left the decisions of the lower courts unchanged.

The court emphasized that the one-time financial aid is a state-guaranteed social payment to family members of a deceased serviceman, therefore the grounds for refusal established by law must be applied not formally or expansively, but only in the presence of proper and sufficient evidence.

The Supreme Court stressed that the decisive factor is not the mere fact of the serviceman being intoxicated, but the establishment of an objective causal link between this state, the serviceman's behavior, and his death. The mere detection of alcohol in the body is not sufficient or independent grounds for refusal to grant the one-time financial aid.

Moreover, the Court noted that according to Article 77 of the Code of Administrative Procedure, it is the authority that must prove the lawfulness of its decision. Therefore, if the Ministry of Defense refuses payment citing Article 16-4 of the Law, it must prove the presence of all circumstances that constitute the legal basis for such refusal.

When refusal of payment is possible

The Supreme Court separately distinguished two situations when Article 16-4 of the Law may be applied.

The first concerns cases when death occurred as a result of the serviceman's own actions committed while intoxicated by alcohol, drugs, or toxins. In such a situation, it is necessary to prove not only the fact of intoxication but also the specific actions of the serviceman and their direct causal link to his death.

The second covers cases when the immediate medical cause of death was alcohol, drug, or toxic intoxication or a pathological condition caused by it, such as acute alcohol poisoning or alcoholic coma. In this case, this causal link must also be confirmed by proper and admissible evidence.

At the same time, if death occurred during the performance of military duty due to combat injury, unlawful actions of others, or other circumstances beyond the serviceman's control, the Ministry of Defense cannot refuse payment solely because alcohol was found in the deceased's body. It must prove that the serviceman's behavior while intoxicated was directly causally linked to the death or that the direct medical cause of death was the pathological effect of alcohol.

Why the Supreme Court agreed with the decisions of previous instances

The court noted that all documents examined in case 520/18046/25 — the forensic medical examination conclusion, official investigation report, military unit commander's order, and military-medical commission decision — confirmed one fact: the serviceman died from wounds sustained during enemy artillery fire while performing a combat mission.

At the same time, none of these documents contained a conclusion that death resulted from alcohol intoxication or actions of the serviceman in such a state. There was also no evidence in the case materials that his behavior was causally linked to the death or that alcohol was the direct medical cause of death.

Under these circumstances, the Supreme Court agreed with the lower courts' conclusion about the unlawfulness of the Ministry of Defense's decision. The Court also noted that the proper remedy in this case was not a direct obligation to grant aid but the annulment of the illegal refusal and the obligation of the Ministry of Defense to reconsider the application taking into account the court's legal assessment, since the Ministry still needs to evaluate other statutory conditions for granting aid during the new review.

Important conclusion for practice

The Supreme Court clarified the approach to applying Article 16-4 of the Law "On Social and Legal Protection of Servicemen and Their Families."

The Court confirmed that the mere fact of detecting alcohol, drugs, or toxic substances in the body of a deceased serviceman is insufficient grounds for refusal to grant one-time financial aid to his family. Such refusal is possible only when the competent authority proves either a direct causal link between the serviceman's actions while intoxicated and his death, or that alcohol, drug, or toxic intoxication was the direct medical cause of death. If the serviceman died as a result of combat injury or other circumstances beyond his control, the restrictions provided by Article 16-4 of the Law cannot be applied solely because alcohol was detected in the body.

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