Allowance battle: Father takes legal action to cut off grown daughter’s $350 allowance payments

In 2009, the Family Court of Colina, Chile, set a monthly child support payment of about $325, indexed to inflation, for a minor. For more than fifteen years, the father made every payment on time.

In 2025, he filed a petition seeking to end the obligation permanently. He argued that his daughter, now 37, no longer studies and holds stable employment, meaning that continuing the payments would constitute unjust enrichment and place an unfair burden on him – preventing him from planning for his own retirement with financial independence.

A “rebellious” daughter

The daughter was duly notified but neither responded nor appeared at the hearings, prompting the court to proceed in her absence. The judge reviewed all relevant documents – including birth, social security and tax records – which confirmed both her age and her professional status.

Judge Rodrigo Retamal Zapata cited Article 332 of Chile’s Civil Code, which states that parental support payments end when children turn 21, unless they continue professional or vocational studies, in which case the duty can be extended until age 28.

The ruling concluded there was no justification to maintain the payments, since the woman had full economic capacity. The decision also stressed the need to apply a gender- and age-sensitive perspective, noting that prolonging such obligations beyond what is reasonable can create inequity that the law must not endorse – undermining the dignity and autonomy of the paying parent.

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