Legal Rights and Duties of Parental Responsibility

Article 347: Definition of Parental Responsibility

Guardianship refers to the set of duties and rights of the father and mother in relation to their sons and daughters who have not attained the age of majority. This role seeks to provide care, development, and education integral to children.

The Principle of Co-Parenting

The father and mother have a shared and inescapable duty to raise, train, educate, maintain, and support their sons or daughters. In turn, children have a duty to assist their parents when they cannot provide for themselves. The law establishes the necessary and appropriate measures to ensure the effectiveness of the maintenance obligation.

Article 358: Responsibility for Raising Children

Responsibility for raising children includes the shared, equal, and inalienable duty and right of the father and mother to love, raise, train, educate, monitor, maintain, and assist their children financially, morally, and emotionally. This includes the power to apply appropriate corrective measures that do not violate their dignity, rights, or development. Consequently, the law prohibits any physical punishment, violence, and humiliating treatment or psychological detriment to children and adolescents.

Article 383: Extinction of Support Obligations

The support obligation is extinguished under the following conditions:

• a) The death of the obligated party, or the child or adolescent recipient or beneficiary.
• b) The beneficiary reaching the age of majority, except if they suffer from physical or mental disabilities that prevent them from providing their own food, or when they are studying. If the nature of their studies prevents them from performing paid work, the obligation may extend to twenty-five years of age, subject to prior court approval.

Article 365: Content of the Support Obligation

The support obligation includes all matters relating to living, clothing, housing, education, culture, assistance and medical care, medicines, recreation, and sports required by the child or adolescent.

Section 366: Maintenance of the Support Obligation

The support obligation is an effect of legal affiliation or judicially established status, which corresponds to the father and mother regarding their sons and daughters who have not attained the age of majority. This obligation exists even where there is a denial or termination of parental rights, or when not having the responsibility for raising the child. In such cases, the judge will explicitly set the amount to be paid for such a concept at the time the sentence of deprivation or termination of parental rights is handed down, or when dictating measures provided for in section 360 of this Act.