扶養制度之發展與檢討 — 以成年子女扶養父母為中心

我國自民國82年起即邁入高齡化社會，人口高齡化已然成為社會重要之議題。而在面臨人口快速高齡化的同時，我國亦面臨少子化之問題，在高齡化併同少子化之趨勢下，對我國人口以及扶養結構帶來衝擊與轉變，因此，如何解決高齡者之扶養需求即是我國面臨之重要問題。本論文之問題意識，即在探討我國現行扶養制度是否能夠因應當前高齡者之經濟與人身照顧方面之扶養需求，並使高齡者獲得適當之保障？依現行扶養制度之規定，僅限於不能維持生活之高齡者始得向子女請求扶養，且現行法上對於扶養義務之定義，僅限於經濟上之扶養，並未包含人身照顧義務在內，似乎無法滿足高齡者之扶養需求。本文希望藉由高齡者扶養議題之探討達成兩個目的，第一，透過裁判之搜集與整理，討論我國目前扶養制度實務運作之現況。第二，根據實務資料之分析，檢討我國現行扶養制度之不足與問題。此外，亦針對目前扶養制度所未規範之高齡者之人身照顧需求以及目前實務現況進行討論，進而提出未來改革之建議。依據本文之研究結果，本文認為，對於有經濟上需求之高齡者，可藉由完善現行扶養制度及加強公扶養之責任加以解決，對有人身照顧需求之高齡者，則可藉由提供誘因使子女願意主動照顧。最後本文對扶養制度之改革提出五項建議：第一，提供誘因使父母人身照顧需求獲得滿足；第二，明定無法維持生活要件之判斷標準與考量因素，並將法院審酌時應予考量之事項予以明文化；第三，善用家事調解制度，並使扶養方法多元化；第四，增訂多數扶養義務人履行扶養義務之規範；最後，應加強國家責任，完善社會福利相關制度。

關鍵字

扶養義務；老親扶養；親屬私扶養；新加坡子女奉養法；司法實證研究；家事事件法

並列摘要

Taiwan has entered an aged society since 1993, and the aging population has become an important issue in the society. We are facing the rapid growth of aging population on one hand, and have to face problems from declining birth rate in Taiwan on the other hand. Under the trend of aging population with the declining birth rate, it would impact and change the population and maintenance structure in Taiwan. Therefore, we are faced an important topic regarding how to solve the maintenance needs of the elderly in Taiwan. The issue of this paper is to discuss whether the maintenance needs of the elderly in terms of their financial and personal care can be satisfied under current maintenance system in Taiwan, and thus to provide appropriate protection to the elderly? According to the provisions of the current maintenance system, only those elderly who are not able to support their living are entitled to request maintenance from their children. Moreover, under the definition of current provisions, the one entitled to maintenance shall be limited to the financial support and the personal care is not included, which does not seem to meet the maintenance needs of the elderly. The two goals of this paper, through the discussion in the regard of maintenance issues of the elderly, are: first, to discuss the current practice status of maintenance system in Taiwan by collection and arrangement of the court decisions; secondly, based on the analysis of practical status information, to review the shortcomings and problems of the current maintenance system in Taiwan. Besides, the paper will also discuss the needs of personal care from the elderly that are not provided by current maintenance system and current practice status and will further offer suggestions about revisions in the future. In accordance with the study results of the paper, it holds that for those elderly who need financial support, it may be met by improving the current maintenance system and put more responsibilities on public maintenance, while for those who need personal care, it may be solved by voluntarily taking care by their own children through some incentives. Finally, there are five suggestions offered by the paper about the revisions of maintenance system: first, to provide some incentives so as to meet the needs of parent’s personal care; second, to have clear standard and determining factors regarding the requirement of not being able to support the living, and to stipulate explicitly in respect of the conditions considered by the court; third, to make good use of mediation system of the family matters and to diversify the manners of furnishing maintenance; fourth, to amend the provisions of performing obligations in case of several persons bound to furnish maintenance; and finally, government should shoulder more responsibilities for improving related social welfare systems.

並列關鍵字

Maintenance Obligations ； Parental Maintenance ； Relatives Private Maintenance ； Singapore Maintenance of Parents Act ； Judicial Empirical Research ； Family Act