Legal Question in Family Law in Brazil
My husband is from Brazil and we live in NZ with my two kids from a previous marriage. My husband pays child support every month for his son in Brazil (Porto Alegre) who is nearly 17. But now the sons mother is taking my husbands mother (childs Grandmother) to court because she says that what my husband pays isn't enough. She has decided she wants the boy to go to University to be a judge and wants my husband to pay 50% of the education costs till he's 25.
Theres no way we can afford this....(we are on a low income and Grandma is a retired widow.) NZ dosnt have a recipricol agreement with Brazil. So it costs us quite a bit just to get the money into Brazil. We are paying more each month than we would be required to pay if she lived with the boy in NZ.
Can she actually sue the Grandma even though payments have been made every month?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Under Brazilian law the grandparents can be called upon to pay child support, but only in case the father is unable to pay child support.
The obligation of the grandparents to pay child support is subsidiary AND solidary.
Subsidiary means that it's only possible to make a demand upon the grandparents if the parents are unable to do so.
Solidary means that the obligaton to provide child support between grandparents is shared among all of them. This means that the grandmother should demand that the parents of the mother should pay 50% of the part demanded from your mother in law.
Your mother in law should get a lawyer ASAP to defend herself and to call the other grandparents to pay half in case the mother succeeds in her demand.
I suppose that your husband pays what was dertermined by the brazilian courts.
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