Are Children Obligated to Maintain Their Parents in Jordan?

Yes, solvent children under Jordanian law are obliged to maintain their insolvent parents. Article 197 of the Personal Status Law provides that a solvent child — male or female, adult or minor — owes maintenance to insolvent parents where they are unable to earn.

Article 197 states that if the child's earnings exceed only his own needs and those of his wife and children, he shares what he has with his parents and joins them to his dependents, in keeping with filial duty and the ties of kinship. This connects to the rule that maintenance is assessed by the payer's means under Article 64, so the child is not burdened beyond capacity.

This right may be claimed judicially, and relatives' maintenance — including parents' maintenance — is imposed from the date of the claim under Article 200.

Assessing the parents' insolvency, the child's solvency, and the amount of maintenance remains within the Sharia Court's competence on the facts of each case.

This is a general explanation based on Jordanian Personal Status Law and does not replace advice from a qualified lawyer in a specific dispute.