Parents Maintenance Act: A guide to Bangladesh's law on supporting parents
The law defines parental maintenance as ensuring parents' food, clothing, medical care, accommodation and companionship.
Highlights:
- Parents Maintenance Act, 2013 makes it mandatory for children to support their parents.
- Failure to provide maintenance can result in a Tk1 lakh fine or up to three months' imprisonment.
- Children must ensure food, medical care, accommodation, financial support and companionship for parents.
- The law prohibits sending parents to old-age homes against their will.
- Grandchildren are also responsible for maintaining grandparents in certain circumstances.
The Parents Maintenance Act, 2013, makes a legal obligation for every son and daughter to ensure the maintenance of their parents, providing for a fine of up to Tk1 lakh or, in default, up to three months' imprisonment for failure to support them.
The law defines parental maintenance as ensuring parents' food, clothing, medical care, accommodation and companionship. It also prohibits children from sending their parents to an old-age home against their will, reinforcing legal protection for family bonds.
Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel
Section three of the act requires every child to ensure the maintenance of his or her parents. Where there is more than one child, they must jointly share the responsibility.
Children must ensure necessary medical care, regularly inquire about their parents' health and, if the parents live separately, provide them with a reasonable amount of financial support from their daily or monthly income.
Under Section four, in the absence of the father, grandchildren are responsible for maintaining their paternal grandparents, while in the absence of the mother, they must maintain their maternal grandparents. Such maintenance is deemed equivalent to the maintenance of parents.
Section five provides that violation of Sections three or four constitutes an offence punishable by a fine of up to Tk1 lakh or, in default, imprisonment for up to three months.
It also provides that any spouse, child or close relative who obstructs or refuses to cooperate in providing such maintenance will be treated as having abetted the offence and be liable to the same punishment.
Supreme Court lawyer Advocate Khalid Hossain described the act as a landmark step in protecting family values and the rights of elderly people.
"The Act makes parental maintenance a legal obligation and prohibits children from sending their parents to old-age homes against their will," he said.
Khalid said the penalty under Section five sends a strong legal message to children who neglect their responsibilities, while Section four strengthens family bonds by extending maintenance obligations to grandparents.
He also noted that Section eight allows disputes to be settled amicably outside the courts. In addition, the Parents Maintenance Rules, 2023 provide for the establishment of a maintenance fund and care centres for elderly people.
"This law is not merely punitive; it is intended to remind children of their responsibilities. Greater awareness of the law will help strengthen family harmony and ensure dignity and care for elderly parents," he added.
