Will parents save enough to retire if their adult child is slow to grow up?

IT does not happen often but occasionally a piece of legislation sits unnoticed and uncontroversial for ages before flaring up unexpectedly.

So it proved recently when a son invoked a rarely used proviso in the Women's Charter to sue his 60-year-old father to part finance his study overseas. What's unusual about this case is that the son - who had been brought up solely by his mother after his parents divorced when he was eight - was already 22 in February when he applied to the court for maintenance. Under the charter, parents are legally bound to maintain their offspring until he or she turns 21, upon which their obligation will cease. However, it also provides for certain exceptions for children who have turned 21. These include those who suffer from physical or mental disabilities, who are or will be serving fulltime national service, and still schooling or undergoing training for a trade, profession or vocation.

In this particular case, according to Straits Times reports, the son graduated with a polytechnic diploma in 2018 but could not find employment as his results were poor. To improve his prospects, he sought to further his studies by pursuing an undergraduate journalism programme but found he did not qualify for direct admission into any of the local universities. He then looked overseas and was accepted into a four-year degree programme in Canada. The father, on the other hand, believed the son's overseas pursuit was more for a lifestyle experience.