Does an adult son of a deceased serviceman have the right to payment without dependent status: what the court decided

The Zhytomyr District Administrative Court recognized as unlawful the decision of the Main Directorate of the National Guard of Ukraine to return for revision the documents of the adult son of the deceased serviceman who applied for a one-time financial assistance. The court concluded that after the legislative changes that came into force in March 2024, adult children belong to the category of persons entitled to a share of the one-time financial assistance provided by Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 168, and therefore they do not need to confirm dependent status.

The court also noted that when making a decision, the authorized body must apply the legislation in force at the time of the application review, and not require documents that are no longer provided for this category of assistance recipients.

Case circumstances

The plaintiff applied to the court after the Main Directorate of the National Guard of Ukraine returned the documents regarding the appointment of one-time financial assistance to the military unit.

The plaintiff's father — a serviceman of the National Guard of Ukraine — died on April 9, 2025, during inpatient treatment from complications caused by a combat wound. After his death, the son submitted an application for one-time financial assistance.

However, the National Guard did not make a decision on the payment appointment but returned the documents for revision. The body indicated that the applicant did not provide a court decision on being dependent on the father or another document confirming the right to a pension due to the loss of a breadwinner, thus considering the document package incomplete.

The plaintiff appealed this decision to the administrative court.

What the court established

The court noted that the dispute concerned the right of the adult son of the deceased serviceman to receive one-time financial assistance.

The court drew attention to Law No. 3515-IX, which came into force on March 29, 2024, and amended Article 16-1 of the Law "On Social and Legal Protection of Servicemen and Their Families".

Following these changes, children, regardless of whether they have reached adulthood, are explicitly included among the family members of the deceased entitled to one-time financial assistance. Meanwhile, dependent status matters only for a separate category of persons and does not apply to children as an independent category of assistance recipients.

The court emphasized that although the plaintiff was already 22 years old at the time of the serviceman's death, after the amendments to Article 16-1 of Law No. 2011-XII, adult children belong to the family members of the deceased entitled to one-time financial assistance.

Applicable legislation

The court separately analyzed the issue of the temporal application of legislation.

The court noted that legal relations regarding the appointment of one-time financial assistance arise from the moment of application submission and continue until the authorized body makes a decision.

Therefore, if the new version of the law is already in force at the time of application review, the authority must apply it. The court referred to the practice of the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court regarding the application of normative legal acts over time and concluded that the authority must be guided by the legislation in force at the time of decision-making unless otherwise expressly provided by law.

Under these circumstances, the court found that returning the documents for revision due to the lack of confirmation of dependent status did not comply with the current version of Article 16-1 of Law No. 2011-XII.

What the court decided

The Zhytomyr District Administrative Court satisfied the claim. The court recognized as unlawful and canceled the decision of the Main Directorate of the National Guard of Ukraine to return the documents for revision, obliged the authority to reconsider the plaintiff's application for one-time financial assistance and make a decision taking into account the court's conclusions. In addition, the court awarded the plaintiff 1,064.96 UAH in court fees at the expense of the Main Directorate of the National Guard's budget allocations.

At the same time, the court did not oblige the payment of the one-time financial assistance but only required the Main Directorate of the National Guard of Ukraine to reconsider the application applying the current version of Article 16-1 of the Law of Ukraine "On Social and Legal Protection of Servicemen and Their Families" and taking into account the legal conclusions set out in the court decision.

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