A 41-year-old qualified solicitor recently took his wealthy parents to court in an attempt to force them to continue financially supporting him indefinitely.
The London-based man, who has not been identified claimed that his parents had knowingly been nurturing his dependence on them for the last 20 years, only to recently ‘significantly reduce’ their financial support, after their relationship deteriorated. He wanted a judge to rule that his parents should continue supporting him, and his lawyers cited laws relating to marriage and children during a remote family court hearing. Interestingly, the 41-year-old unemployed lawyer is currently living rent-free in a central London apartment owned by his parents. They have also been paying all his utility bills as well, but apparently that’s just not good enough…
“His parents have supported him financially down the years and continue, to some extent, to do so,” Judge James Munby said in his ruling. “They have permitted him to live in a flat in central London, of which they are the registered proprietors, and in relation to which they have until recently been paying the utility bills.”
“Of late… the relationship between the applicant and his parents – in particular, it would appear, his father – has deteriorated and the financial support they are prepared to offer has significantly reduced. He characterizes their stance as seemingly being that, having in fact – whether wittingly or unwittingly – nurtured his dependency on them for the last 20 years or so – with the consequence that he is, so it is said, now completely dependent on them.”
The man’s parents, who currently live in Dubai, as ked the court to dismiss their son’s case, which was exactly what Sir James Munby, claiming that the solicitor had no case and adding that his future applications should be summarily dismissed.
Interestingly, this isn’t the first time we’ve featured a story of an adult suing his parents to force them to continue supporting them financially. Back in August, Italy’s Supreme Court ruled that a 35-year-old man’s parents were not obligated to continue supporting him.
The dependency of so-called ‘adult babies’ on their parents has been a hot new topic in recent years. A couple of years ago we had the couple who sued their 30-year-old son wo refused to move out of the family home, and just last month we had the 30-year-old man who reported his mother for kicking him out.
