Supreme Court: Residency Requirement for Parents Is Constitutional
The Constitutional Review Chamber of the Supreme Court has ruled that the city of Tallinn's procedures for paying out birth allowances is indeed constitutional.
The Chancellor of Justice, Indrek Teder, filed a petition for a review in October of last year in regard to whether the city could, in a regulation, legitimately require both parents as well as the child to be city residents to qualify for the allowance.
Under the rules, as of January 1, 2010 ,the birth allowance is disbursed in two instalments - 50 percent upon birth and the remainder after a year if the parents and the child have remained Tallinn residents for that entire time.
The Supreme Court found that the goal of birth allowances was not to support only the child but the child and his or her parents.
"Although a local government must in any case take into account the requirement of equal treatment in Article 12 of the Constitution, a local government has more discretion if it is not a case of allowances or services for people suffering from a shortcoming," the ruling reads.
Although the local government does not provide services directly in exchange for a contribution from the person, such as income tax, there nevertheless exists a mutual relationship between the government and the individual. Since the allowances are meant for both the child and the parents, they all participate in this mutual relationship, which entitles the city to equally require residentship from all of them, said the Chamber.
The city council regulation does not directly govern payment of a birth allowance if a child has only one parent. The Chamber said that in such a case, the single parent has the right to receive the birth allowance, and to deprive him or her of it would be unconstitutional.
Kristopher Rikken