The mother has the secondary obligation to maintain her children. Under the Hanafi law, the rule is that when the father is poor and the mother is rich, then the mother is bound to maintain the children. But the mother has the right to recover the amount so spent on the maintenance of children as and when the father is in a position to repay it.
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Among the Shias there is no such obligation on the mother, even when she is rich. Under the Shia law, if the father is poor, then it is the grandfather who is bound to maintain the grandchildren.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
The Hanafi law imposes the obligation of maintenance on the grandfather when both the parents are not in a position to maintain the children. In such a case the grandfather can recover the amount so spent on the maintenance of the grandchildren from the father as and when he is in a position to repay it.