Can parents claim maintenance from children in UAE? Yes, where the applicable Personal Status Law’s conditions are met. Article 107 makes a solvent child responsible where the parents lack funds for their own maintenance.
The duty applies to male and female children, whether adults or minors. If the parents’ funds are insufficient, solvent children must cover the shortfall under Article 107(2).
This guide covers the Personal Status Law. Non-Muslim families under the civil personal status law are not covered here.
The Personal Status Law discussed here is Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2024.
Summary
Under the applicable Personal Status Law, solvent sons and daughters must support parents who lack funds for their own maintenance. Article 107 includes adult and minor children. Where parental funds are insufficient, solvent children must cover the shortfall.
Contributions are divided according to each child’s means. Recovery between siblings depends on whether payment was voluntary or made under a judgment with an intention to recover. Household support and competing maintenance duties also require assessment. Penal consequences have separate statutory conditions.
Can Parents Claim Maintenance From Children In UAE?
| Issue | Legal Position And Source |
|---|---|
| Duty of a solvent child | A solvent child, male or female, adult or minor, must maintain his parents if they have no money to spend on themselves (Article 107(1)). |
| Shortfall | If the parents’ money does not cover maintenance, the solvent children must complete it (Article 107(2)). |
| Sharing among children | The maintenance is divided among the children by each one’s means (Article 108(1)). |
| Voluntary payment | A child who pays voluntarily has no recourse against his siblings (Article 108(2)). |
| Payment under a judgment | A child who pays under a judgment against the children can recover from each sibling his share, if he paid intending to recover (Article 108(3)). |
| Taking the parents in | Article 109 concerns earnings that cover only the child’s own needs and those of their spouse and children. The child may be required to include their entitled parents in the household (Article 109). |
| Order of priority | Maintenance is owed first to the wife, then the children, then the parents, then relatives, if the person bound cannot pay them all (Article 110(2)). |
| Priority over other debts | Continuing maintenance from the date of the claim for the wife, children and parents is a privileged debt (Article 98). |
| Offense by a child | Article 254 addresses mistreatment, assault, neglect, or refusal of care despite ability. It also addresses failure to pay maintenance imposed by a court judgment. The penalty is imprisonment and a fine of AED 5,000–100,000, or either penalty. |
Article 255 requires a complaint by the person concerned. Withdrawal before a final judgment ends the criminal case; withdrawal afterward suspends execution (Article 254, 255).
Family relationship disputes may also involve legal issues involving disowning parents.
Discuss Your Parents’ Maintenance Claim
Parents seeking support and children responding to a claim can send the financial documents to Leaders Advocates on WhatsApp.
How A Parent Claims
- Show that you have no money to maintain yourself, and describe your needs.
- Identify each child, and what you know about his income and assets.
- File the maintenance claim before the personal status court.
- Ask the court to set maintenance from the date of the claim, because continuing maintenance from that date is a privileged debt (Article 98).
- Ask the court to divide the maintenance among the children by their means (Article 108(1)).
For related enforcement issues, see recovery of unpaid alimony.
- Enforce the judgment through the execution judge if a child does not pay. Refusing to pay maintenance owed under a judgment is also an offense under Article 254(2).
Limits And Defenses
- The duty falls on a solvent child. A child who is not solvent is not bound, and the duty then moves on in the order the Law sets (Articles 107 and 110).
- The court assesses the amount by the means of the payer and the needs of the recipient (Article 96).
- A relative’s maintenance, other than a child’s, is imposed from the date of the court claim (Article 111(2)).
- Article 109 may require household support instead of a separate payment. It concerns a child whose earnings cover only their own needs and those of their spouse and children.
Article 110’s payment priorities also make child maintenance obligations relevant.
Frequently Asked Questions
Review Your Maintenance Rights And Obligations
Parents seeking support and children facing claims can discuss their documents with Leaders Advocates on WhatsApp.
Legal source: Personal Status Law
