Bill 317.

Summary.

The bill proposes to reinforce the duty of sons and daughters to assist, care for and protect parents who are vulnerable because of advanced age, disability, serious illness, dependency or lack of resources. Its guiding principles include human dignity, filial responsibility, intergenerational solidarity, shared family responsibility, financial proportionality, equality and priority for the vulnerable person’s interests. Beneficiaries include parents over sixty (60) years of age without sufficient means of subsistence, and parents with a certified severe disability, serious illness or functional dependency. All sons and daughters would be responsible regardless of parentage, age or previous cohabitation. Their duties would be allocated according to financial capacity unless a judge approves a different agreement.

The proposed assistance covers food, health care, housing and recreation; emotional and social support; and arranging medical appointments, help with daily activities or caregivers when needed. Filial responsibility could not be transferred entirely to the State unless financial incapacity or genuine physical impossibility is duly established. A claim would proceed summarily before the Family Court of the beneficiary’s domicile. The parent, legal representative, Public Prosecutor’s Office (Ministerio Público), Ombudsman’s Office (Defensoría del Pueblo), or Ministry of Social Development (Ministerio de Desarrollo Social, MIDES) could bring it. Family mediation would be sought within ten (10) working days after the claim is admitted, and the court would seek to deliver judgment within thirty (30) calendar days after admission. In setting financial support, the judge would consider the beneficiary’s needs, each child’s income and family obligations, the beneficiary’s pensions, subsidies or other income, previous voluntary contributions, and the number of children responsible.

To secure compliance, a judge could order deductions from wages or pensions, seizure of accounts and property, entry in the National Register of Maintenance Obligations, and coercive fines of up to 20 % of the amount owed. The bill creates a National Register of Parental Abandonment, administered by the Ombudsman’s Office, for repeated failures to provide assistance. Registration could entail restrictions on civil or tax procedures or public contracting for up to three (3) years. It also provides for fines of up to B/. 2,000.00, suspension of State subsidies or tax benefits, and disqualification from State contracting for up to three (3) years. The Public Prosecutor’s Office could initiate criminal proceedings when noncompliance causes serious harm to an older adult’s health, safety or integrity, in accordance with the Criminal Code (Código Penal).

MIDES and the Ombudsman’s Office would provide free legal advice, assist in court proceedings and design public campaigns. MIDES would implement national family guidance programs. The Executive Branch (Órgano Ejecutivo) would issue regulations after consulting the Judicial Branch (Órgano Judicial), MIDES and the Ombudsman’s Office. The provisions concern those institutions, the National Assembly (Asamblea Nacional), families and caregivers, and participants in civil and tax procedures and public contracting.