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(Guest)

Legal protection needed to support old parents

I am posting this query on my friend's behalf,as she is not computer savvy.

My friend is hindu,married 1 yr. back.she lives with her husband and inlaws.the house is in inlaws' name.her husband is only son and has one married sister living abroad.

her parents who are quite old and weak are not properly looked after by her brother monetarily & personally.they live alone and need daily support to do even basic things like bathing,eating,changing clothes etc or they easily fall down and get injured.

once a nurse was kept to take care of her parents but she always stole their money.so she was fired.due to high crime rate,servants cant be trusted to take care of them.and relatives are also not cooperative.

so my friend wants to live with her parents to take care of them as she cant bring them to her inlaws' house as it's not owned by her.

when she expressed her idea,her inlaws and husband raised a big hue and cry that her duty after marriage is only towards inlaws;not her parents.she had to bow down as she also wants to save her marriage.but she cant see her parents' condition who dont get food sometimes as they are too old to cook themselves.if she sends them money also her inlaws and husband pass many comments,who are in any case wealthy and in good health.

now what can she do to look after them on a daily basis and also contribute monetarily?will law support her,without breaking her marriage?her old parents' condition has made her very depressed,and she weeps every day because of worry,as they always took very good care of her before marriage,spent so much money on her education.but now when they need her she cant help them.whereas her inlaws also have a daughter who cares for them;but her parents have none.

she said she will not forgive her husband and inlaws if something happens to her parents and that she made a mistake of marrying a boy who lives in a joint family where a daughter inlaw has no say.

please advice how to go about it legally



Learning

 7 Replies

Suchitra. S (Advocate)     28 February 2010

Jaya ji,  I would advise you on three levels.


First, the option of making her brother look after her parents. She can file a case in Court to make her brother look after her parents, which is his legal duty under law.


Second, she should become self independent by earning money for herself and then support her parents for which law helps her. Her in laws donot have rights over her self earned property or money. Law doesnt support her view of looking after her parents with her husband's/ in laws money. If she herself is dependent on someone, how can she ask for her dependent paernts from in laws?


Third, by contacting any NGOs nearby and place her parents in the old age home.

Arvind Singh Chauhan (advocate)     28 February 2010

Jaya Ji find the attachment and go through, It may be helpfull for your friend. Her parents may also seek under 125 Cr.P.C.  the maintenance from her brother but it is only financial.


Attached File : 46 46 the maintenance and welfare of parents and senior citizen act 2007.pdf downloaded: 298 times

Harsha (Legal Practitioner)     01 March 2010

Hi Jaya,

 

This is burning topic now a days. When children grow up (especially guys) they have this gross negligence towards their parents. It is ethical on the son's part to take care of his aged parents not as an obligation.

What they need at this point of time is love and affection and some one who could care for them.

It is highly pathetic that we have reached stage that parents need to claim maintenance from their own children whom they have brought up after toiling for so many years.

But Justice prevails over the poor and the needy. So your friend can inform her parents to file a petition for maintenance.

Nowhere it is mentioned that daugther after getting married has to attend to the chores of her inlaws. She can help her parents in case there is a need. So in this case she can help her parents in whatever way without getting any monetary help from husband.

If her inlaws trouble her then it amounts to harassment and cruelty which always has a judicial remedy.

I would suggest let her become independent and then she can take care of her parents.

For the time being she can approach any NGO's with a good track record for her parents.

 

"Dharmorakshathi raksh*thaha"

Regards,

Harsha.

 


(Guest)

hello everybody


thanks for your reply.my friend was told about all your opinions and she was glad to see such a huge feedback


however,she is not really bothered about the maintenance thing....even if she gets maintenance for her parents,its not going to solve the purpose fully.


her parents NEED CONTINUOUS ATTENTION while bathing,eating,changing clothes etc.Or else they fall down.It has happened in the past.


My friend says that she doesn't want to put them in old age home as the staff there is usually callous and rude.she has heard such cases of staff miisbehaving with senior citizens.

 

The laws are only providing maintenance to old people but the judiciary doesn't understand that old people also become weak and feeble with time and so have to be cared for a like a child by being present with them all the time because of poor eyesight,poor hearing skills etc.You must have read so many cases in papers where even wealthy aged people were victims of crime by strangers and servants as they used to live alone and so could not resist criminals barging in their homes.


How can the law help my friend who wants to live with them?Can it force the inlaws to keep them in their house,since the matrimonial home lawfully is of my friend also and so legally she has the right to decide who can come and live here...its not that she is just an unpaid servant who can't take decisions about her life but is living in laws' house as long as she is serving them.

 

if that is not possible,she wants to live with them as they need attention all the time and have become v.lonely too.her inlaws are looked after well by their daughter.so y can't she live with them?that's the point i am raising...y are there no such laws to cater to daily needs of old people besides maintenance?what can money do if they dont have the energy and eyes to cook,see,buy their grocery etc as they are so weak .


please guide accordingly.

Suchitra. S (Advocate)     01 March 2010

Jaya ji, can you say a son in law can bring his parents also, along with him to his parent in laws home to be maintained by them? That too when he himself is dependent on his wife's salary? can he claim the whole preoperty of in laws as his own, and he can decide whom to be with him in in laws place? Dont you think it is advisable first to earn money for himself and then ask for the rights over others? In laws are keeping him home, just because the reason that he is the husband of their daughter. Same law applies to a daughter in law.

"Dharma" and 'law' are different things. Please dont try to mix them. Law is based on principles of natural justice. Since it is a law club, we advise you on this problem based on property law.  You cannot bring here the principles of 'Dharma".  We advise for maintenance or inheritance on the basis of 'rights over the property' only.

RAKHI BUDHIRAJA ADVOCATE (LAWYER AT BUDHIRAJA & ASSOCIATES SUPREME COURT OF INDIA)     07 July 2010

Dear Jaya,

It is very usual now a days. U can contact me at 9871158578. M used to fight for such aged and destituted parents. Even I've community fror such parents.

Genius Gene (Sr. Manager-IP)     10 September 2010

There is "Maintenance & welfare of parents and senior citizen act, 2007", but it doesn't have much impact in India. Parents can claim maintenance from their children but what they need is love and affection and some one who could care for them. How would a old parent who is not independent fight a case in the court of law?

We need stronger laws.. but more than that we need stronger ethics to be implanted in new generations.

Also, we need awareness of this Act and its repercussion among people who don't care for their old parents.

Friends, whoever feel the same like me and think then can make a difference, please contact me.. lets take this a step forward...


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