Legal Grounds of the Parental Maintenance Obligation
Article 1212 of the Civil Code of Georgia declares the maintenance of children to be a fundamental obligation of parents: parents are obliged to maintain their minor children. The obligation does not automatically end when the child comes of age. Under the same provision, parents are also obliged to maintain their incapacitated children who need assistance, even after those children have reached majority. Child support claims rest directly on this norm: they determine who may claim the funds necessary for the child's upkeep, from whom, and under what procedure, and they structure the dispute between parents over the amount of alimony. The obligation binds both parents and its performance is dictated by the interests of the child, not by the state of the personal relationship between the parents after divorce or separation.