Do children have to support elderly parents?

According to Article 107, Article 71 and Article 111 of the Law on Marriage and Family of 2014 of Vietnam, it is stipulated as follows:

"Article 107. Support obligation

1. The support obligation shall be performed between parents and children; among siblings; between paternal grandparents, maternal grandparents and grandchildren; between aunts, uncles and nieces, nephews; and between husband and wife in accordance with this Law.

The support obligation can be neither replaced by another obligation nor transferred to other people.

2. In case persons having the support obligation shirk this obligation, at the request of the persons, agencies or organizations prescribed in Article 119 of this Law, courts shall compel these persons to perform the support obligation in accordance with this Law."

"Article 71. Obligation and right to care for and raise

2. Children have the obligation and right to care for and support their parents, especially when their parents lose their civil act capacity, are sick, become old and weak or have disabilities. For a family with several children, these children shall together care for and support their parents."

"Article 111. Support obligation of children toward parents

Adult children who do not live with their parents have the obligation to support their parents who have no working capacity and no property to support themselves."

Thus, when parents are unable to work and have no property to support themselves, adult children must support their parents.

However, the current inadequacy is that the law does not have any direct and clear guidance on how to identify people who are incapable of working thereby leading to inconsistencies in application.

Specifically, in cases where the parents have been lying in one place, bipedal paralysis, binocular blindness, spinal paralysis, severe mental illness that requires a caregiver, it is often determined that they are incapable of working.

In other cases, such as parents who are old and weak but still able to work in a limited way (understand that they can sell lottery tickets, pick up bottles slowly), they are still not obliged to support their children.

It is necessary to have specific written instructions for children who have to support their parents, avoid parents who are too old and weak to work for money, but children who have bad conditions do not take care of and support their parents.

In addition, currently, there are provisions in Vietnamese law to punish and deter cases of failure to support parents in accordance with Article 111 of the Law on Marriage and Family 2014, specifically:

Firstly, sanctioning administrative violations according to Article 54 of Decree 167/2013/ND-CP.

"Article 54. Violation of regulations on care, upbringing and support

A warning penalty or a fine of from VND 100,000 to VND 300,000 shall be imposed for one of the following acts:

1. To refuse or shirk the obligation of support between husband and wife after divorce; to refuse or shirk the obligation of support between brothers and sisters and between paternal grandparents or paternal grandparents and grandchildren in accordance with law.

2 Refuse or evade the obligation to support and support parents; the obligation to support and care for children after divorce as prescribed by law."

Secondly, being examined for penal liability if the child refuses to support the child or shirks the support obligation, causing serious consequences or has been administratively sanctioned for this act but still violates the provisions of Article 186 of the Criminal Code 2015 of Vietnam, in particular:

 “Article 186. Denial or avoidance of obligation to provide support

If a person who has an obligation to provide support and is capable of providing support for another person for whom the offender is responsible for providing support under a court decision denies or avoids such obligation and such denial or avoidance results in serious bodily harm of the recipient or the offender previously incurred a civil penalty for the same offence, the offender shall receive a warning, face a penalty of up to 02 year's community sentence or 03 - 24 months' imprisonment."

Seeing that the law of Vietnam has regulations on the child support obligation of the parents.But before the law speaks, be a moral child who takes care of and supports elderly parents when they are grown up and able to earn money.

Key word: support for parents in Vietnam | alimony in Vietnam | alimony obligations in Vietnam | Vietnam's Law on Marriage and Family 2014 | Vietnamese law | elderly parents in Vietnam |

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