Senior citizens: the right to maintenance from children and heirs

Who can claim maintenance under the 2007 Act

The Act protects two groups. A senior citizen is any citizen of India who has reached sixty years of age. A parent is a father or mother, whether biological, adoptive, a step father or a step mother. A parent can claim against children; a senior citizen with no children can claim against relatives.

The claim depends on need. Section 4 allows a person who is unable to maintain himself or herself from their own earning or from property they own to apply. Maintenance is defined widely to include food, clothing, residence, and medical attendance and treatment, so the claim is not limited to pocket money.

• Senior citizen: an Indian citizen aged 60 or above (Section 2(h)).
• Parent: biological, adoptive or step father or mother (Section 2(d)).
• Maintenance: food, clothing, residence, medical attendance and treatment (Section 2(b)).

Who has to pay: children and relatives

Children means a son, daughter, grandson or grand-daughter who is not a minor. Under Section 4, children must maintain a parent to the extent of the parent's needs so that the parent can lead a normal life. A daughter has the same duty as a son.

A childless senior citizen can claim against a relative. A relative here is a legal heir who is not a minor and who either holds the senior citizen's property or would inherit it. The relative must have sufficient means. Where more than one relative would inherit, each pays in the same proportion in which they would inherit the property. This links the duty to pay with the benefit of the property.

How much the Tribunal can order, and interest

Section 9 lets the Tribunal order a monthly allowance when children or a relative neglect or refuse to maintain. The State Government fixes the maximum, but the Act says it shall not exceed ten thousand rupees a month. Check the State rules for the cap that applies where you live.

While the case is pending, the Tribunal can order interim maintenance under Section 5(2), so the parent need not always wait for the final order. Section 14 allows the Tribunal to add simple interest of not less than five percent and not more than eighteen percent. Under Section 10 an allowance can be changed later on proof of misrepresentation, a mistake of fact or a change in circumstances.

• Cap: up to Rs 10,000 a month, or the lower figure the State fixes.
• Interim maintenance while the case runs: Section 5(2).
• Interest: 5 to 18 percent simple, at the Tribunal's discretion (Section 14).

How to apply to the Maintenance Tribunal, step by step

Each State must set up Maintenance Tribunals for its sub-divisions, presided over by an officer not below the rank of Sub-Divisional Officer (Section 7). The Tribunal works in a summary way and Section 17 says no party may be represented by a legal practitioner, which keeps the process simple and cheap.

• Write an application to the Tribunal stating who you are, your age, your needs, and the children or relatives who should pay. The senior citizen or parent can apply; if they are unable, any person or organisation they authorise can apply. The Tribunal can also act on its own (Section 5(1)).
• File it in a district where you live or last lived, or where the child or relative lives (Section 6(1)).
• Ask for interim maintenance in the same application if you need money at once.
• The Tribunal may refer the matter for conciliation before the hearing. If that fails, it hears both sides and decides.
• The application must be decided within ninety days of service of notice on the other side. In exceptional cases the Tribunal can extend this once, by up to thirty days, recording its reasons (Section 5(4)).
• A copy of the order is given free of cost (Section 11). The Maintenance Officer, a District Social Welfare Officer or an officer not below that rank, will represent the parent if the parent wants (Section 18).

If the order is not obeyed, and the right to appeal

If a child or relative does not pay, the Tribunal can issue a warrant to recover the amount in the way fines are recovered, and can, for each breach, send the person to prison for up to one month, or until payment if made sooner (Section 5(8)). Apply for the warrant within three months of the date the amount became due. Do not let arrears pile up.

An order can be enforced by any Tribunal, and it has the same force as a maintenance order under the old Criminal Procedure Code. A parent or senior citizen unhappy with the order can appeal to the Appellate Tribunal within sixty days of the order. A late appeal can be allowed if there was sufficient cause for the delay (Section 16).

Gifted property to a child who stopped caring

Many parents transfer a house or land to a son or daughter on the understanding that they will be looked after. Section 23 protects them. If a senior citizen, after the Act came into force, transferred property by gift or otherwise on the condition that the transferee would provide basic amenities and physical needs, and the transferee refuses or fails to do so, the transfer is treated as made by fraud, coercion or undue influence. At the senior citizen's option, the Tribunal can declare it void.

In Urmila Dixit v. Sunil Sharan Dixit (2025 INSC 20), the Supreme Court restored the Tribunal's order cancelling a gift deed where the son did not meet the maintenance condition, and said the Act is beneficial law that must be read liberally to serve its purpose. Keep any document, letter or promise that records the condition, because the condition has to be shown.

Abandonment is a crime, and other duties of the State

Section 24 makes it an offence for anyone who has the care of a senior citizen to leave them in any place intending to wholly abandon them. The punishment is imprisonment up to three months, a fine up to five thousand rupees, or both. Offences under the Act are cognizable and bailable and are tried summarily by a Magistrate (Section 25), so a police complaint can be made.

The Act also places duties on State Governments: old age homes for indigent senior citizens, beginning with at least one in each district (Section 19); beds for senior citizens in government funded hospitals as far as possible, separate queues and geriatric care (Section 20); and wide publicity and training of officials, including the police (Section 21).

The other route: Section 144 BNSS, and where to get help

A father or mother who cannot maintain themselves can also apply to a Magistrate of the first class under Section 144(1)(d) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, which replaced Section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure from 1 July 2024. The case can be filed where the parent lives. Interim maintenance applications are to be decided, as far as possible, within sixty days of notice. A warrant for arrears must be sought within one year of the amount falling due.

Section 12 of the 2007 Act says a parent entitled under both laws can choose either one, but cannot claim under both. For guidance, the Union Ministry of Social Justice runs Elderline, the national toll free helpline for senior citizens, on 14567. It gives information on pension and legal issues and emotional support, and can intervene in cases of abuse.