Legal Opinion: Claim Under Maintenance of Parents Act 1995

You are required to draft a legal opinion for the Home for the Aged (“the Home”), based on the instructions set out in the annexed File Note.

This is an individual assignment. Although the authorities you cite may be the same as your classmates’, we expect each opinion to be unique. Opinions which are strikingly similar will be investigated and may result in penalties to both/all students involved.

Your opinion should be set out in a letter addressed to the client. You are to:

1. Advise the Home based on the instructions given by their representative.
2. Refer to relevant sections of the Maintenance of Parents Act 1995 (the “Act”), if any, and explain how these section(s) would apply to the case.
3. Limit your advice to the relevant provisions of the Act.
4. Organise your opinion well with a proper numbering system with main and sub-headings.

GO LAW LLC

Parties in Attendance: Alan Wise (representative of Home for the Aged), Ong Chin Chong (Go Law LLC)

• Home for the Aged is an approved organisation under the Maintenance of Parents Act 1995.
• On 15 May 2024, an elderly woman carrying no identification was found wandering on the streets.
• She was admitted on the same day into the Home for the Aged (“the Home”) but placed in an isolated room.
• The elderly woman was interviewed and she said that she had not had food to eat and had no home to return to.
• She was unemployed and had no money on her.
• She said that she had no savings or other means of supporting herself.
• She identified herself as Wong Ah Ma, a 69-year-old Singaporean.
• She said that she used to reside with her son. However, he had thrown her out of the flat; she believes that it was because when he was growing up, she was strict with him and would often cane him for being naughty or for not studying.
• Due to memory loss, she was unable to provide the full name of her son or his residential address.
• She said that her son was called Ah Boey and his flat was located somewhere in Tampines.
• Wong Ah Ma (“Wong”) has been residing at the Home since her admission.
• The costs and expenses of her stay at the Home have not been paid for
• The Home would like to know if they can make an application against Wong’s son for the purpose of defraying the costs and expenses of maintaining Wong under the Maintenance of Parents Act 1995.
• If so, they would like to know the steps to be taken in doing so, the possible order(s) that the Tribunal would make and the potential challenges to the claim which the son may raise.

Law Assignment Answers: Expert Answers on the Above Law Questions

As the advice requested on whether the Home may require financial maintenance from the son of madam Wong, a 69 year old Singaporean woman, let’s have a look at the legal opinion based on relevant provisions of the maintenance of parents act 1995. The legal provisions applicable is section 3, 4 and 5 whereby section 3(1) indicates that a person can apply for Tribunal for an order if he is 60 years of age and above and unable to maintain himself adequately, and section 3(2) requires an approved organisation to apply on behalf of the parent. Section 4 is related to maintenance order by the Tribunal and Section 5 takes into consideration the financial needs of the parent, the income earning capacity etc. In the given scenario, Home is an approved organisation and therefore it can file the application on behalf of Wong. The possible orders can be monthly maintenance, or a lump sum payment, or maintenance be backdated when Wong was first admitted. 

Want a Full Worked Out Answer with References?

Check Samples on Law Subject Written by Experts

The post Legal Opinion: Claim Under Maintenance of Parents Act 1995 appeared first on Assignment Help Singapore.