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Are the parents' funds that were spent on education considered a debt that must be repaid after marriage and childbirth, especially if the parents demand it and their demand has caused tension in the relationship?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

What parents spend on their children, whether it is obligatory or recommended maintenance, is not considered a debt upon the children. Parents are obligated to provide for their poor children. According to the Hanbalis, maintenance is obligatory for a poor son even if he is capable of earning, while for the majority of scholars, maintenance is obligatory for a daughter until she marries. Maintenance includes: food, drink, housing, medicine, and education. If the expenditure was a recommended gift, the parents cannot retract it once it has been spent. However, if the parents explicitly state that what they spent is a debt and the child agrees to it, and the education was not essential, then it becomes a debt that must be repaid.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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