Ningbo Maintenance Obligation: What if Children Do Not Support the Elderly

To begin with the conclusion: supporting one’s parents is not a matter of goodwill, but a legally mandated obligation. If the elderly lack the ability to work or have difficulties in life, even if they have a pension, savings and a house, they can sue for alimony from their children. Support is not only for money, but also for life care and spiritual comfort of "going home often. In families with many children, such agreements as "whoever does not inherit will not be supported" and "no matter what" have been agreed long ago when the family is separated cannot be exempted from legal obligations. only maintenance agreements with the consent of the elderly and limited to "division of labor" are valid. If the matter proceeds to court, the court will determine a reasonable amount based on the elderly person’s needs and the children’s financial capacity. For cases where adult children refuse to provide support to elderly parents who lack the ability to support themselves, and the circumstances are particularly serious, such conduct may also constitute the crime of abandonment under Article 261 of the Criminal Law. Next, we will clarify “who has the obligation, what is to be supported, how the responsibilities are shared, what steps to take, and how assets are calculated,” and provide the local procedures and avenues for rights protection in Ningbo.

1. Who has the obligation to provide support: children, adopted children, stepchildren, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

Let’s lay out the two basic rules first. Article 26, paragraph 2, of the Civil Code stipulates that adult children have the obligation to support, support and protect their parents; Article 1067, paragraph 2, stipulates that if adult children fail to perform their maintenance obligations, parents who lack the ability to work or have difficulties in life, Have the right to require adult children to pay alimony. It is evident that the obligor is the “adult child”; once a child reaches adulthood, the obligation arises regardless of whether the parents were biased in the past or whether they ever provided any property. For parents to claim maintenance, they must demonstrate either a lack of capacity to work or financial hardship; in practice, elderly and ill parents are generally deemed to meet these criteria without further inquiry.

1. Biological children (including non-marital children)

Non-marital children and marital children have exactly the same rights and obligations (Article 1071 of the Civil Code), and are equally required to support their parents. One of the ten typical cases of marriage and family trials in Hainan High Court is that Huang is the only child born out of wedlock to Huang. He defended that he was mostly taken care of by his uncle when he was young and had no feelings with his father. The court still held that he should perform his maintenance obligations and ordered him to pay alimony to 500 yuan every month and go home to visit at least once every three months. The most common defense—“no emotional bond, never been raised”—has thus been shut down.

2. Adopted child

After an adoption relationship is legally established, the rights and obligations between the adopted child and the adoptive parents shall be governed by the provisions governing the relationship between parents and children (Article 1111 of the Civil Code), and the adopted child is obligated to support the adoptive parents. It is also important to note the “de facto fostering and education relationship”: even if no adoption registration has been completed, if the parties have lived together for a prolonged period and one party has actually provided care and upbringing, the court may treat the situation as an adoption. There is one typical case in Jiangsu Court in 2021-2022: He brought up He Xiaomou and did not go through the adoption procedures. The court held that a de facto relationship of upbringing and education had been formed, and the "foster children" after adulthood should still be responsible for supporting them.

3. Stepchild

Whether a stepchild has a duty to support their stepparent depends primarily on whether they were raised and educated by the stepparent (Article 1072, Paragraph 2 of the Civil Code). Where a fostering and educational relationship has been established, the stepchild has a duty to support the stepparent; where no such relationship has been established, they are merely related by affinity and have neither a duty to support nor a right to inherit. One of the typical cases published by the Supreme People's Court (Case 33): Chen Changzhen and Zhu remarried, and Zhu brought Xu Lei and Xu Chunyan to live with them for many years, forming a stepparent-child relationship; The court ordered the biological son to pay alimony of 3600 yuan per year and the two stepchildren to pay alimony of 15

00yuan per year.

4. Grandchildren, grandchildren (with conditions)

Article 1074, paragraph 2, of the Civil Code provides that grandchildren and external grandchildren who have the capacity to provide support shall have the obligation to support their grandparents when the parents have died or are unable to provide support. Three conditions must be met simultaneously: the elderly person’s children have either passed away or are unable to provide support; the grandchildren have the financial capacity to do so; and the persons being supported are the grandparents or maternal grandparents. It is not the first priority—so long as the elderly still have children who are capable of providing support, the grandchildren do not bear this obligation.

It should also be noted that the spouse of the supporter only "assists" in the performance (the third paragraph of Article 14 of the Law on the Protection of Rights and Interests of the Elderly), and the widowed daughter-in-law has no legal obligation to support her in-laws. In the “China Court Annual Cases 2022,” the court held that a widowed daughter-in-law does not have a statutory duty to provide support, but her caregiving does not relieve the biological children of their legal obligations.

What does 2. support include: economic support, life care, spiritual comfort

Article 14, Paragraph 1 of the Law on the Protection of the Rights and Interests of the Elderly stipulates that caregivers shall fulfill their obligations to provide financial support, daily care, and emotional comfort to elderly persons, and to attend to their special needs. Supporting one’s parents is a comprehensive, “three-in-one” obligation; merely providing financial support without being present in person does not constitute full fulfillment of that duty.

1. Financial support: How is alimony determined?

There is no national uniform standard for alimony, and the court determines it by integrating four variables: the actual needs of the elderly (living expenses, medical expenses, nursing expenses), the affordability of children (income, property, debt, family burden), the local economic level, and the number of children. Judging from the real precedents, there is great flexibility: Hainan Huang's case was sentenced to 500 yuan per month; The Chen Mou case published by the Supreme People's Court sentenced his son to 360 yuan per month according to the per capita consumption expenditure of urban residents in Henan Province at that time. Li Moufu sentenced his eldest son to 500 yuan per month and his second son to 3

00yuan per month.

An important rule: If the parents have a pension, savings, and land-expropriation compensation funds, Cannot be a reason for children to refuse to pay alimony.. In the case of Li Mofu, the second son argued that “my father has nearly 200,000 yuan in compensation and receives a monthly pension of 605 yuan,” but the court made it clear that this does not absolve him of his obligation to provide support. Conversely, when children themselves are genuinely unable to bear the financial burden, courts may also reduce or waive their obligation to provide financial support. In the “China Court Cases 2022” collection, a son suffering from advanced gastric cancer and heavily in debt was relieved of his duty to provide financial support by the court.However, only “financial support” is exempted; care in daily life and emotional comfort cannot be waived.

2. Life care

Article 16 of the Law on the Protection of the Rights and Interests of the Elderly stipulates that caregivers shall make proper arrangements for the housing of elderly persons and shall not force them to live in or relocate to substandard housing. Children shall not encroach upon housing owned by or rented by elderly persons. Article 15 stipulates that for elderly persons who are unable to care for themselves, their caregivers shall assume the responsibility of providing care; if they are unable to provide care in person, they may, in accordance with the elderly person’s wishes, entrust such care to another person or to a long-term care institution. Elderly individuals have the right to independently choose their preferred form of elderly care. In the aforementioned typical case from the Jiangsu High People’s Court, the elderly person independently opted to reside in a nursing home, and the court explicitly ruled that children may not refuse to pay maintenance on the grounds of “disagreeing with this arrangement.”

3. Spiritual Comfort

Article 14 writes "spiritual comfort" as a legal obligation; Article 18 further requires that family members who live separately from the elderly should often visit or greet the elderly, which is "often go home to see". Spiritual comfort has a distinct characteristic: it does not depend on financial means. Even if children face economic hardship, they should still fulfill their obligations through visits, greetings, and companionship. In the case involving Huang in Hainan, the court explicitly included the provision “visit home at least once every three months” in the judgment, demonstrating that visitation can be quantified and subject to compulsory enforcement.

3. How should multiple children share the responsibility: Is a support agreement valid? Is it acceptable to say, "If you don't inherit, you don't provide support"?

1. Support agreement: It may only stipulate “division of responsibilities,” but not “exemption from liability.”

Article 20 of the Law on the Protection of the Rights and Interests of the Elderly stipulates that, with the consent of the elderly, the supporters can sign an agreement on the fulfillment of their maintenance obligations. The content of the agreement shall not violate the provisions of the law and the wishes of the elderly, and shall be supervised and fulfilled by the grass-roots organizations. Therefore, among multiple children, a "division of labor" can be arranged—where the first child contributes effort and the second child provides financial support, or expenses are shared proportionally—as long as the elderly person agrees and the court approves; however, the agreement cannot absolve any party of their obligations. Article 19 clearly stipulates: A person with a duty to provide support shall not refuse to fulfill such duty on the grounds of renouncing inheritance rights or any other reason.

In the above-mentioned typical case of Jiangsu High Court (Case 14), Zhang and his wife signed an agreement with their two sons to "take care of their own living expenses and give up the right to claim the living expenses from their eldest son". Later, when Zhang was over 80 years old and could not live only on the monthly subsidy of 180 yuan, the court found that the exemption clause was invalid, the two sons were ordered to bear the monthly living expenses of 800 yuan and the medical expenses of 1/2 yuan from January 2022.

2. The agreement "no inheritance, no support" is invalid.

"Whoever does not inherit the estate is not obligated to provide support." Agreements such as "during the division of family property, if the house is given to the second child, the eldest child is no longer responsible," still cannot exempt one from statutory obligations. Inheritance is a right, while providing for one’s parents is an obligation; the two cannot be offset against each other. Even if children explicitly renounce their right to inherit, they may not use this as grounds to refuse to provide support; on the contrary, any greater fulfillment of their duty to support the parent will be taken into account in the subsequent division of the estate—potentially entitling them to a larger share—but that is a matter for evaluation at a different stage.

3. If the parents have transferred their property to one child, can the other children stop making payments?

No. In a typical case (case 40) published by the Supreme People's Court, Mrs. Zhang and her three children agreed to pay alimony 500 yuan per person per month. After that, Mrs. Zhang gave the real estate to one of her sons free of charge, and the other two children stopped paying accordingly and mailed a "notice of dissolution of agreement". The court determined that providing support is a legally mandated obligation, and the agreement cannot be unilaterally terminated. It ordered the three children to each pay 5,000 yuan in support for a total of ten months. Parents’ disposition of their property cannot serve as a justification for other children to shirk their responsibilities.

4. What should we do about uneven workload sharing and people who try to avoid their responsibilities?

(the example is fictitious) An old couple in Ningbo had three children. In their early years, they verbally agreed that "father and eldest son, mother and second daughter". After the father was ill and hospitalized, the eldest son refused to share the medical expenses on the grounds that "it was agreed to only care about the father's daily life and no matter how to see a doctor. Oral agreements on the division of responsibilities have limited enforceability; when new circumstances arise, such as serious illness or disability, the parties must renegotiate. If no agreement is reached, the court will reassess and reallocate the responsibilities based on the number of children and each party’s financial capacity.

4. What to do about failure to provide support: negotiate, mediate, file a lawsuit to claim maintenance payments, and the boundary between refusal to enforce court orders and the crime of abandonment.

1. First negotiate, then mediate.

Elderly individuals may first attempt to negotiate with their children; if no agreement is reached, they may request mediation from the residents’ committee, village committee, senior citizens’ association, or the local judicial office. Many disputes oversupport; maintenance; alimony are, at their core, issues of communication and division of responsibilities; mediation is the most cost-effective approach and causes the least emotional harm. Any maintenance agreement reached may be witnessed and its implementation supervised by a community-level organization.

2. Filing a lawsuit to recover alimony

If negotiation and mediation both fail, file a lawsuit directly with the court. Several key points:

• Jurisdiction and Cause of Action: Generally, jurisdiction lies with the court in the defendant’s domicile; however, for the convenience of elderly plaintiffs, the case is often heard by the court in the plaintiff’s domicile. The cause of action is either a dispute over support or a dispute over support payments.
• Plaintiff and Claims: The plaintiff is the elderly person themselves; when mobility is limited, a close relative or a designated guardian may bring the lawsuit on their behalf. Those who meet the eligibility requirements may apply for legal aid. The claims may include, in combination, monthly maintenance payments, proportional sharing of medical expenses, and regular visits.
• Evidence: proof of kinship (household registration book, birth certificate), evidence that the elderly person is unable to work or faces financial hardship (medical records, diagnostic reports, income certificates, minimum living allowance documents), information regarding the children’s income and financial obligations, mediation records, maintenance agreements, etc.
• Prior enforcement: Claims for alimony fall within the scope of cases eligible for prior enforcement, and elderly individuals may apply before the judgment takes effect.

3. Non-payment after judgment: Enforcement and refusal

If the child still fails to make payments after the judgment takes effect, you may apply to the court for enforcement. The court may inquire about, freeze, and seize their deposits and wages, and may also add them to the list of discredited persons and impose restrictions on high‑value consumption, among other measures. For those who have the ability to enforce a court judgment or ruling but refuse to do so, and where the circumstances are serious (such as transferring or concealing property), such conduct may constitute the crime of refusing to execute judgments or rulings under Article 313 of the Criminal Law. “Even after a judgment is handed down, it’s still not paid” is by no means a matter without consequences.

4. The Boundaries of the Crime of Abandonment

Article 261 of the Criminal Law provides: Anyone who is obligated to support an elderly person, a minor, a person suffering from illness, or any other person incapable of independent living, but refuses to do so under egregious circumstances, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years, criminal detention, or control. The boundary should be made clear: the general "no money, no home" is a civil dispute and is resolved through prosecution. Only when the elderly have no independent living ability (serious illness, disability, no income), the children have the obligation to support but refuse to support, and the circumstances are bad (such as abandonment, long-term neglect to the elderly), can civil liability be upgraded to criminal liability. The crime of abandonment is generally a private prosecution case; however, if it is accompanied by assault or abuse and the circumstances are particularly serious, it may also constitute the crime of abuse under Article 2

60of the Criminal Law.

The relationship between property and support of the elderly in 5.: conditional gift, right of residence, housing for the aged

Property is the most sensitive issue in support disputes. What an elderly person holds in their hands and whom they give it to directly determines whether they have confidence and peace of mind in their later years.

1. Conditional gift: If a house is gifted but the children fail to provide care, the gift may be revoked.

When the old people give the real estate to their children, they often attach the condition that "the children are responsible for providing for the aged. Article 663 of the Civil Code provides that if the donee fails to perform the obligations stipulated in the donation contract, the donor may revoke the donation. In the above-mentioned typical case (case 13) of the Jiangsu High Court, Sun gave Meng a share of the demolition house and compensation, agreeing that Meng would provide housing and assume the obligation of support. Meng did not fulfill his duty of support after receiving the gift, but also drove away the old man's tenant. The court ruled to revoke the gift. Please note: The right to revoke a gift must be exercised within one year from the date on which you became aware, or should have become aware, of the grounds for revocation; it is difficult to provide evidence for oral conditions, so be sure to include the obligation to provide support in the written gift contract.

2. Right of residence: Separating “the right to live” from “ownership.”

The Civil Code has introduced a new system of residential rights.The elderly can transfer the house to their children, and at the same time establish and register the right of residence for themselves, so as to ensure that the "old man has a home" without affecting the children's acquisition of ownership; the right of residence is established at the time of registration and cannot be transferred or inherited. In the typical case of Jiangsu High Court (Case 11), Yuan and his wife agreed that their son and daughter-in-law would purchase a resettlement house for their son and daughter-in-law to live until their old age. The house would later be transferred to their granddaughter. The daughter-in-law refused to live in the old man after divorce. The court decided that the old man enjoyed independent and exclusive living rights according to the agreement and ordered the house to be delivered. This is a safe way to "transfer ownership without losing residence.

3. Giving in advance and the risk of "housing for the aged"

Transferring your only home to your children in advance carries the biggest risk of losing control over it. In addition, the elderly can also choose bequest support agreements: article 1158 of the Civil Code stipulates that natural persons may enter into bequest support agreements with organizations or individuals other than heirs. In the typical case of Jiangsu High Court (case 12), Wang lived alone after divorce, and his four children never visited or supported him. In 2003, Wang signed an agreement with the neighborhood committee, which was responsible for his life, death and burial, and his property was returned to the neighborhood committee for nearly 20 years. After Wang's death, his children competed for birth. The court held that the agreement was valid and the four children had no right to inherit because they did not fulfill their support obligations.

6. Frequently Asked Questions

A child says, “My parents have pensions and a house—why should I still have to pay them alimony?”

The obligation to provide support is not contingent upon the parents’ financial hardship; the parents’ pension, savings, or real estate cannot serve as grounds for refusing to pay maintenance. The typical case (Case No. 40) published by the Supreme People’s Court clearly states: a parent’s income does not preclude the obligation of their children to pay maintenance. Only when the child is truly unable to afford it himself (e. g. seriously ill and heavily indebted) may the court reduce or exempt his or her financial support, but the obligation of spiritual comfort and care cannot be exempted.

Is a “termination of father–son relationship” or a separation agreement stipulating no obligation to provide support legally effective?

It's useless. Maintenance is a legally mandated obligation and cannot be waived by agreement, declaration, or by “severing the relationship.” Article 19 of the Law on the Protection of the Rights and interests of the elderly makes it clear that supporters shall not refuse to perform their maintenance obligations on the grounds of giving up their inheritance rights or other reasons. Case No. 14 of the Jiangsu High People’s Court is a typical example in which a clause waiving the right to claim maintenance payments was deemed invalid.

Should stepchildren and widowed daughters-in-law be responsible for supporting their elderly relatives?

stepchildren see whether there is a "relationship of support and education": if it is formed, they have the obligation to support their stepparents (Article 1072 of the Civil Code); if it is not formed, they are only in-laws and have no obligation to support them. A widowed daughter-in-law has no legal obligation to support her parents-in-law, nor does her voluntary care exempt her from the obligation of her own children; however, a widowed daughter-in-law who has fulfilled her primary duty of support may be the first-order heir (article 11

29of the Civil Code).

How much alimony is typically awarded, and how is it calculated?

There is no fixed standard, and the court determines the actual needs of the elderly, the local living standards, the number of children and their respective affordability. From the perspective of jurisprudence, 300 yuan to 500 yuan per month is a common range; the medical and nursing expenses of the elderly are large, or the income of their children is higher, which may be higher. It is recommended to file a combined claim seeking “alimony, proportional sharing of medical expenses, and regular visitation,” and to apply for provisional enforcement.

7. Practical Insights from a Lawyer

When handling a support dispute, the first step is not to rush into filing a lawsuit; rather, you should first clarify “who has the obligation and to what extent.” In practice, many elderly people think that if they have a pension and a house, they cannot ask for alimony. This is a misunderstanding-as long as they lack the ability to work or have difficulties in life, they can still claim it. On the other hand, most of the children can't stand up to the defense that they said they would not care when they split up. We should distinguish the types from the relationship of kinship: biological children and children born out of wedlock are all obliged; Whether stepchildren, adopted children and grandchildren are responsible depends on whether they have formed a relationship of upbringing and education and whether they have the corresponding affordability. First, the subject of obligation should be circled and then the amount should be discussed.

Support is not only about giving money, but also includes life care and spiritual comfort, which can be put forward in layers according to actual needs: daily living expenses, medical expenses, nursing expenses, and necessary visiting arrangements. On the evidence, the elderly party should prepare proof of identity and kinship, their physical and income status, medical materials for illness or disability, and bills for daily expenses. For those with many children, the income and burden of each child should be found out so as to facilitate the court to determine a landing amount. The existing agreement on the division of labor for maintenance is only binding on the elderly with the consent of the elderly and the content is limited to the division of hours, and cannot be used to exempt from statutory liability.

In practice, a more common dilemma is that elderly individuals do not want to sever ties but are in genuine need of money. You can first ask the village committee, community or people's mediation organization to coordinate, spread the burden according to the proportion of children's income into a written agreement, agreed to pay the time and consequences of breach of contract. In cases of extreme neglect, where the failure to provide support is severe, it may even cross the criminal threshold for abandonment; however, that should be regarded as a last resort. If the elderly have a house and a deposit in their hands, they can also use conditional gifts, residence rights and other arrangements to tie property and care together, which is more active than recovery afterwards.

The bottom line of the law is very clear about this matter of support: the obligation cannot be exempted, the parents' savings cannot be exempted, the agreement cannot be exempted, and the abandonment of inheritance cannot be exempted. However, the manner and amount of performance can be negotiated—disagreements usually arise over “how to divide,” rather than “whether to divide.” The sooner the old man speaks clearly and writes down the arrangements, the greater the initiative in his later years. The earlier the children understand the division of labor, the less wrangling they will have in the future.

Three sentences for three types of people. For children: instead of waiting for parents to sue and be enforced, it is better to take the initiative to sit down and decide on the division of labor and write a maintenance agreement with the consent of the elderly. For the elderly: don't give away your property in one lump sum in order to "hurt a child". before the house is transferred, think clearly whether to retain the right of residence and whether to write a conditional gift. For families with many children: division of labor can be done, but exemption cannot be done. Those who do more are legally rewarded-they can share more inheritance, and widowed daughters-in-law who do their main support obligations can also be the first-order heirs, so as not to let honest people suffer.