People work continuously their whole lives, and most of their financial planning revolves around their children’s careers and securing their retirement lives. People often dedicate their entire lives towards building their children’s careers, assuming that later, their children will also take care of their retirement needs. However, after retirement, many people are disowned by their children for whom they sacrificed their entire lives. At such an age, seniors can’t return to work and spend the rest of their lives in sorrow and grief. Here are some Legal Remedies Seniors Can Get If Children Abandon that can provide relief to such senior people disowned by their children.

Options Available To Seniors Who Are Abandoned By Their Children

Venket Rao, founder of Intygrat Law Offices LLP, explains: “The Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizen Act, 2007, endeavours to safeguard the rights of senior citizens on their properties and articulates the following measures of legal remedies seniors can get if children abandon them:

• The Senior Citizen may transfer their property by way of gift or otherwise, to some person subject to the condition that the beneficiary/transferee shall provide the basic amenities and basic physical needs of the Senior Citizen and any prospective refusal or failure of the transferee then the said transfer of property shall be deemed to have been made by fraud or coercive or under undue influence and thereby declared to be void by the Tribunal established under the Act.
• Senior Citizens cannot be abandoned by their children or relatives from the property owned by such Senior Citizens.
• In the circumstances when Senior Citizens have been abandoned by their children or relatives, then they reclaim their property

Every senior citizen should be aware of the governing law of the State, and specifically, such knowledge should proceed with knowing the provisions of the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007 and the safeguards this law grants to the senior citizens”.

Things To Keep In Mind

Experts suggest that senior citizens should immediately contact a legal expert to get relief from a situation when their children abandon them. Seniors can get legal help for several cases of abuse, such as physical abuse, financial deprivation, emotional torture, etc. The Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizen Act also provides essentials such as food, shelter, clothing, and health for seniors. It is a criminal offence to abandon senior citizens under this Act, and children can be forced by law to pay a regular stipulated monthly maintenance to their parents.

The legal system often acts quickly in cases related to senior citizens so they don’t suffer because of their children’s ill behaviour. There are many NGOs as well that support senior citizens for their quick rehabilitation and help get justice when their children disown them.

The author is an independent financial journalist