Who’s Financially Responsible To Take Care of Our Elderly Father? Ask Shaykh YQ #188

Our next question, I have a question, a questioner who asked to be anonymous, who says that they are group of siblings. And they have an elderly father who is married to their stepmother. So they have a stepmother and an elderly father. And now the elderly father has reached a state where he's not able to take care of himself. And the children are stepping in to help and to take care of the Father. But it requires high maintenance, there's a lot of money involved to take care of doctors and have visits and whatnot. And while the father does have a good amount of money saved up, the step mother is insisting that since it is their father, the children's father, and they are all

adults, that they should take the tabs they should finance, the upkeep, and that she should basically get to enjoy or maintain the money and be in charge of the money because the father is no longer mentally capable of managing the money. And so there is a tussle between his wife who is the stepmother of the children, and between the biological children. And the question is, therefore, whose responsibility is it financially to take care of this gentleman? Should this gentleman's money be the primary resource? Or do the adult male children who are all working? They all have their families, they are all having an income. Is it requirement for them? One

out of seven, ami, Kobe, Nika Illa, de Jalan, no, hey, la him, first.

Recovery?

Now, the answer to this question, there are multiple aspects, there's a legal aspect, there's an emotional aspect, there's a religious aspect, all of these are intertwined together, I'm not going to really go down the emotional or the sun aspect, emotionally speaking, you know, the the emotions involved here. It's not simplistic that you quote, law. And that's it. It is very clear to me reading this question that your family needs to sit down and discuss the underlying issues, you know, the the the, the, your stepmother, who has been married to your father, I'm assuming for many, many years, or however many years that she is no stranger to the family, she is a part of your

father's life, you, of course, are the biological children. So these are underlying issues that need to be discussed maybe in the presence of to arbitration, you know, members of the ARB that you can use as arbitrators, but it needs to be discussed, it's not just a legal verdict that is going to that is going to be brought about. And of course, there's no, you no denying that this needs to be said as well. That taking care of an elderly parent, is of the greatest good deeds that you can possibly do. So my encouragement to all of you is to never, ever give up no matter what happens, be encouraged that you are doing one of the greatest good deeds imaginable. And whoever is taking care

of however they're taking care, your efforts are not going to waste how wherever the money is coming from, your efforts are not going to waste if it so happens that you will end up spending some money. Don't even think about it, in the sense religious, they're telling you that Allah zildjian will indeed reward you now, although this is the precursor to the technical and the legal answer because I don't think it is fair to jump to the technical and skip over the emotional regardless of what happens he is your father and take care of them to the best of your ability. Now, technically speaking, a person's maintenance a person's upkeep a person's bills, a person's expenses, primarily

falls on his own wealth, okay? That's the whole purpose it is his money. So who else is more entitled to it, then he himself after all, he earned it. It's his money now that he is in need of it, then technically speaking, his money is the first resource that should be done for anything that is necessary or reasonable. And I'm sure that insha Allah Allah, we all can agree to what is reasonable, obviously, we don't want anything frivolous, but anything that will make life more comfortable, any equipment, any doctor's visits, that you know are part of the routine that must be done that are culturally accepted to be done in his and medically in his situation. All of these

expenses will first and foremost come from his own pocket and his own bank account. And that is why in our *tier when a person passes away, who pays for the funeral, it is in fact the person's wealth before even any will or will see you before any inheritance even before any debts are paid to anybody who owes them. The first thing that you do is you take the expenses of your own funeral, his own funeral from his own wealth. This is Allah's beautiful Shetty are beautiful. You know, shade is so simple, so straightforward that the person earned his money he needs to pay for his home.

Imperial, and then you start with the deaths, and the we'll see you and they will author all of this is going to come after you have taken care of his own funeral. If this is the case of his funeral, what do you think when he's alive? What do you think of his medical? What do you think of the maintenance expenses, and therefore, the the the primary obligation is upon the person's own wealth, and his wife, or the stepmother of the children does not have the Islamic right to stop the money being spent on him. Because again, I'm taking you at face value that the money is being spent on him for his maintenance and upkeep. If that is the case, technically, there is simply no question that

she cannot say I want the money and I want to do this and that and I want to live more comfortably. That's when she she will be maintained, yes, her residence and her you know, room and board and her, you know, expenses of living. But as long as there is money in the bank account that he owns, there's wealth that is being accrued or there is still there, then he will be taken care of from that wealth, and the children are not obliged to give anything of their wealth. Now, obviously, religiously speaking, if they do, Allah shall reward them. And if any one of them volunteers, Allah xojo will give them back more, that's good, but until his own money runs out, they are not legally

obliged, the minute that his money runs out, if he does not have enough and they're not able to take care of then in this case, the biological children will all come together and they will decide who can give how much and they will collectively it is a collective obligation and the rich will give according to his means, and the one that is not so rich will give according to his means, but they all must share and they must come to a mutually agreed upon conclusion, that how much will be given by each person. So the inheritors will financially Take care. inherited meaning once he passes away there's a group called the inheritors right the water thing, they will take care, but that is only

going to happen after his own wealth has completely seized otherwise until that point in time, no one has the right to come between his wealth and his own maintenance. apana lets his money he needs to be taken care of and therefore his money will be the primary money that will be used to take care of his own needs. As long as it is done with my roof with something that is acceptable and in case there is a clash between what is acceptable or not. So bring together family and friends and discuss you know which option which medical procedure which thing and within mutual consultation insha Allah Allah, you will find a solution to this and Allah subhanho wa Taala knows best