The maintenance obligation is defined by the Civil Code. This is a legal obligation between ascendants and descendants to materially help a loved one who cannot meet their needs alone. This family solidarity, which stems from kinship or marriage, can take the form of financial or in-kind assistance. Under what conditions does this maintenance obligation apply? What are the penalties in the event of non-compliance with this obligation?
According to the law, and more precisely article 205 of the Civil Code, it is obligatory to help a member of his family in need, that is to say, who, because of his too modest resources, cannot live decently.
Concretely, the descendants (children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren) have the obligation to help their father or their mother in need, just as is the case of their ascendants (grandparents, great- grandparents, etc). The relatives affected by this maintenance obligation are called “maintenance obligations”.
In other words, the maintenance obligation exists reciprocally between parents and children, between grandparents and grandchildren, between sons-in-law or daughters-in-law and parents-in-law. In the latter case, a son-in-law or daughter-in-law is no longer subject to the maintenance obligation of his parents-in-law if his husband or wife and his children are deceased.
Note:the maintenance obligation itself does not apply between spouses or PACS partners. We speak, in this case, of “duty of assistance”, a form of assistance which takes precedence over the maintenance obligation which applies, on the other hand, to the children of the couple. A child may be exempted from this obligation if the parent in need has seriously failed in his obligations towards him or, as a rule, if parental authority has been withdrawn from him.
On the other hand, the legal maintenance obligation does not apply either between members of the same family, for example between brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, nephews, etc., between children born of a previous union and the new spouse of their father or their mother, and between the ascendants or descendants of their cohabitant or PACS partner.
For the maintenance obligation to be put in place, the loved one in need must make the request, and above all he must be able to prove that his limited resources do not allow him to meet his needs.
For example, an elderly person who lives in an Ehpad and who does not have a sufficient retirement pension to pay for the establishment is proof that requires the establishment of the maintenance obligation. In this case, his descendants may be required to pay part of the costs of residence in the Ehpad.
The maintenance obligation is in principle determined by mutual agreement between the person in need and his or her descendants. They then determine together the amount of their aid. But the maintenance obligation can also be imposed by a judge (the family court judge) if the maintenance debtors refuse to provide their support or if they do not agree on the sums to be paid to help their close. It is then the judge who is competent to set the amount of the contribution of each person liable for maintenance, according to their family and economic situation. The person liable for maintenance must have sufficient resources to be able to meet this legal obligation.
Once the maintenance obligation has been put in place, if, for example, a child does not fulfill his role imposed by law vis-à-vis his parent in need, he is exposed to sanctions. He is in fact considered to be committing an offense of abandonment of the family and incurs a prison sentence of up to 2 years and a fine of up to 15,000 euros.
The maintenance obligation ceases at the time of the death of the person obligated to support or of the relative in need.
The support obligation owed to a relative can take different forms. But, in general, it constitutes material or in-kind support for all that is necessary to live as well as possible on a daily basis.
The maintenance obligation can thus take the form of assistance in kind such as the provision of food, clothing, free accommodation, or financial assistance such as the payment of expenses related to health care, rent, or the payment of the funeral expenses of the person in need following his death.
