Can an adult child seek maintenance from their parents?

There have recently been two cases in which adult children have begun court proceedings seeking a formal court order to force their parents into providing ongoing financial support to them.

The first was reported from Italy in August and involved a 35 year old man applying for a top up to his wages earned as a part time music teacher from his parents. Amazingly a lower court had found that his parents should provide him with a monthly stipend as his wages were not enough for him to live on. The Supreme Court in Italy reversed the decision and ruled that parents are not financially responsible for their children for life.

Now in a similar case in FS v RS and JS [2020] EWFC 63 the English courts have been asked to consider the same issue. This time the Applicant was 41 years old. He is a qualified solicitor holding a degree in modern history a master’s degree in taxation and presently studying for Chartered Tax Advisory exams. He has however been unemployed since 2011 and suffers from various mental health difficulties although the extent of these was...

Read the full article here.