Short answer. The Code lists eight duties, and they run well past money. Parents must keep the child in their company, support, educate and instruct them, give moral and spiritual guidance, supervise their activities, represent them in all matters affecting their interests, and impose discipline as circumstances require.

What the law says

(1) To keep them in their company, to support, educate and instruct them by right precept and good example, and to provide for their upbringing in keeping with their means;

Family Code, Article 220 — Rights and Duties of Parents Over the Child. Read the full provision →

What the law says

(5) To represent them in all matters affecting their interests; (6) To demand from them respect and obedience; (7) To impose discipline on them as may be required under the circumstances;

Family Code, Article 220 — Rights and Duties of Parents Over the Child. Read the full provision →

Rights and duties named in the same breath

Article 220 does not separate what a parent may do from what a parent must do; it lists both together, which tells you how the Code understands authority over a child. The first entry sets the tone: to keep them in their company, to support, educate and instruct them by right precept and good example, and to provide for their upbringing in keeping with their means. Note the last phrase. The standard is measured against the parent's means, so the duty is not to give a child a particular standard of living but to give what the parent can, honestly applied.

The duties that are not about money

Several entries in the list are things no court could enforce by an order to pay. Parents are to give their children love and affection, advice and counsel, companionship and understanding; to provide moral and spiritual guidance and inculcate honesty, self-discipline and industry; and to furnish wholesome educational materials, supervise their activities and associations, and keep them from habits harmful to their health, studies and morals. They are in the statute because they describe what parental authority is for. When a court has to decide whether authority is being exercised properly, this is the yardstick it reaches for.

Representation, obedience and discipline

Three of the entries are the ones that surface in practice: (5) To represent them in all matters affecting their interests; (6) To demand from them respect and obedience; (7) To impose discipline on them as may be required under the circumstances;. Representation is why a minor's claim or transaction is handled through the parent. Discipline is expressly bounded by what the circumstances require, and the boundary is real — Article 233 forbids a school administrator, teacher or individual engaged in child care exercising special parental authority from inflicting corporal punishment on the child.

What follows if the duties are not performed

The list is not decorative. Article 221 makes parents civilly liable for injuries and damages caused by their unemancipated children living in their company, which is the flip side of the duty to supervise. Article 229 allows authority to be terminated by a judgment divesting a parent of it, and Article 232 deprives permanently where the child has been subjected to sexual abuse. Article 223 lets those exercising authority petition for disciplinary measures, but warns that a court finding the petitioner at fault may suspend or deprive that petitioner instead.

Cases citing this provision

These Supreme Court decisions cite the provision above. We list them so you can read them yourself; the summaries of what each decided are not ours to give.

Related provisions

Note. Statute text quoted on this page is reproduced from the official enactment and is linked to the full provision. The explanation around it is general legal information from Vivas & Nobles Law Office, not legal advice. Whether it applies to your situation depends on facts only a lawyer reviewing them can assess.