Chapter on the Maintenance of Relatives, Those One Owns, and Animals

Maintenance—or the amount needed to complete it—is obligatory for one’s parents, however high the line of ascent, and for one’s children, however far the line of descent, including those related through the maternal line among them, ...

This chapter discusses the maintenance due to relatives and those one owns, and explains the underlying cause, for we have previously stated that there are three grounds on which maintenance becomes obligatory:

First: marriage.

Second: kinship.

Third: ownership.

The difference between these grounds is that marriage is a reciprocal arrangement: maintenance is owed in return for marital intimacy. Hence, it is not waived by the husband’s insolvency, nor does it lapse with the passage of time—unlike the maintenance of relatives and those one owns.

Relatives are ascendants, descendants, and collateral relatives. Ascendants are those from whom one descends, such as fathers and mothers; descendants are those who descend from one, such as sons and daughters; and collateral relatives are those who descend from one’s ascendants, including paternal and maternal uncles.

His statement, “It is obligatory,” means that full maintenance is obligatory when the person being supported has nothing.

His statement, “or the amount needed to complete it,” applies when the person being supported possesses some of what is needed.

His statement, “for one’s parents, however high the line of ascent,” means one’s ascendants.

His statement, “and for one’s children, however far the line of descent,” means one’s descendants.