Knowledge Base

Maintenance / Child Support

Home / Our married daughter has been living with us in our home for several months now. We have been supporting her completely. Her husband will not give her money to support herself. We have told her time and time again to file for divorce at the rabbinical court but she does not seem to listen, saying she loves him. She did not ask for help; we offered it. Do we have any right to get the money we have spent supporting our daughter back from her husband ?

Our married daughter has been living with us in our home for several months now. We have been supporting her completely. Her husband will not give her money to support herself. We have told her time and time again to file for divorce at the rabbinical court but she does not seem to listen, saying she loves him. She did not ask for help; we offered it. Do we have any right to get the money we have spent supporting our daughter back from her husband ?

By: דיאנה שאלתיאלPublished on: 16 May, 2022

No! Although according to Jewish Law a husband has a duty to support his wife financially (pay her maintenance), if he does not do so and her parents invite her to move back into their home and support her, they have no legal claim against their daughter or their son-in-law for money they laid out on her during this period. This is because she did not ask her parents to support her financially and nor did her husband – they just volunteered . Therefore, if they tried to sue him for the money they spent supporting his wife their plea would probably be thrown out.


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