Features

Rights of parents and grandparents to be maintained by their children

THERE IS AN old saying that children are 'pensions'. By this, I believe that parents would have a certain degree of expectation for the children to provide some form of maintenance after they have retired and/or during their old age.

For most families, the love of parents and by extension, grandparents, cause natural flow of kindness and affection. For some, they may express this love in the form of gift and for others it may be a weekly or monthly sum to cover needed expenses.

However, where the children are reluctant in dealing with the maintenance of parents, grandparents or the man with whom the mother openly cohabit at the time of his or her birth, section 4 of the Maintenance Act, (hereinafter called "the Act") provides for and makes it an obligation in law for children to maintain their parents, grandparents and the man with whom the mother openly cohabit at the time of their birth.

The person entitled to maintenance, where the children have failed to provide suitable maintenance, may complain before a Resi-dent Magistrate of the parish where the child lives, a Justice resident in such parish or the Clerk of Court or Deputy Clerk of such parish.

Issue summons

The person to whom the complaint is made, shall cause a summons to be issued to the person or persons complained against to appear in the Resident Magistrate's Court. The Resident Magistrate on the appearance of the child or children or on being satisfied by affidavit, that such summons was served, will make enquiry into the case and if satisfied about the complaint may proceed to make further enquiries into the means of the child or children and their ability to contribute to the maintenance of the person who made the complaint.

If satisfied as to the means and ability of the children to maintain the parents, the Resident Magistrate may make an order of maintenance against the children to pay a specific amount to the parent complaining or to a person approved by the Resident Magistrate. The duration of the order will be determined and stated by the Resident Magistrate. However, any order made may be varied, suspended or cancelled upon application to the court but the Resident Magistrate must be satisfied that the circumstances so warrant.

'Children' must now recognise that apart from the duty to their own children in their years of minority, they also have a duty in law to maintain their parents and grandparents. In light of all this, there should not be so many needy and destitute 'golden agers' around.

Keith N. Bishop is an Attorney-at-Law and a partner in the law firm Bishop & Fullerton.