Ideally, you should have a chat with your partner before or immediately after marriage about your plans to support the parents. If you have decided to help, be upfront about whether it will be a regular contribution or only on special occasions and for emergencies. Also discuss the percentage of salary that you want to allocate. If your spouse expresses resentment or opposes the decision, try to compromise on the extent of financial support and allay the partner’s fears about it impacting your finances or goals.

When you get married and have children, your family should be your first priority. Ensure that you have a budget, an emergency corpus and adequate insurance, have mapped out your goals and are investing for them. By all means help out your parents if they need it, but try not to do so at the expense of your own family.

You can assist your parents by setting their finances in order. Buy them adequate health and critical illness insurance to ensure their medical expenses are taken care of in old age. Guide their investments with an optimum mix of equity and debt, so that they don’t feel the need to fall back on you after they retire.

If your parents require regular monetary assistance, it’s better to involve other siblings to reduce your own financial strain. In fact, it is best to sit down with the family, come to a consensus and have a tangible plan that is acceptable to everyone. Also, make sure that you do not ignore any medical or other emergencies that your parents find themselves in. Be there financially, physically and emotionally when your parents need you the most.

As long as your family’s finances are in order, it’s a good idea to allow the spouse some financial privacy. So, ideally have a joint account for household expenses and individual accounts for personal spending. It should be your spouse’s prerogative on how he or she wants to spend the money from his/her personal account without being held accountable for it.

On the other extreme, if you are thinking of absolving yourself of all financial responsibility towards your parents even though they need help, remember that this Act makes it legal and mandatory for adult children and heirs to provide maintenance to senior citizens and parents.