This archive report was first published on 25 November 2019.
On November 25, 2019, a Nyeri court made a landmark ruling that parents are not obligated to pay child support for children over 18 years old.
Senior Resident Magistrate Ruth Kefa dismissed a woman's application for her former husband to pay university fees for their 21-year-old daughter at Multimedia University in Nairobi.
The court held that parental support can only be extended under special circumstances, and that the child has to apply for this extension through the courts.
The ruling was based on the Children Act, No.8 of 2001 (revised 2016), which defines a 'child' as any human being under the age of 18 years.
According to the Act, special circumstances include the existence of a disability, the child's need for specialised care, or the existence of an illness that requires medical care before the age of 18.
The woman's lawyer, Wambui Mwai, argued that the court should exercise its discretion and extend the parental responsibility, citing Section 91(b) of the Children Act, which states that a person who has attained the age of 18 years may, with the leave of the court, apply to the court for a maintenance order to be made in their favour.
However, the court ruled that the woman had not complied with the provisions of the law, as she had not filed an application for the extension of parental responsibility beyond the 18th birthday.
