What Does The Law Say About Visiting Elderly Parents?

In China a woman was recently ordered to visit her mother every two weeks.  The headlines were met with disbelief or humour.  It’s a pretty unheard of state of affairs to us here.

The  combination
Flickr-faungg

The hearing was held in Wuxi City in Jiangsu province and ruled that the daughter must visit once every two months and three during Chinese national holidays.This particular case was initiated  as soon as the law came into effect and was activated by the mother in question.  The 77 year old widowed mother sued her daughter after a row.  The claim was one of neglect i.e. her daughter had stopped caring for her and helping her financially.

Cultural expectations

China Daily commented, “Filial piety, considered a key virtue of traditional Chinese culture, generally means respect for one’s parents and ancestors, including being good to one’s parents and fulfilling one’s duty to take care of them.”

Map of China in station
Map of China Flickr-lhoon

So loneliness and isolation aren’t restricted to the UK.  Our cultural expectations may not be so easy to uphold and as yet the government haven’t completely washed their hands of responsibility for the over 60s. 

What do you make of this? Do you have grown-up children, or do you have an elderly parent? How often do you think each should visit if they are in the same geographic area? Let us know in the comments.