TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A man's demands for his two children to fulfill their filial responsibility and support him financially was denied after a Taitung court confirmed his children’s claim that he abused and abandoned his family.

In a petition filed by the man surnamed Su (蘇), he claimed that due to his age and lack of an income or savings, he is unable to support himself with the senior citizen allowance of NT$3,000 (US$108.55) a month, CNA reported. Thus, each of his two children should be obligated to pay NT$5,000 every month starting from Sept. 1, 2021, until the day of his death.

However, Su’s children said in court that Su did not work after marriage, was an alcoholic, and caused trouble. They claimed that when they were younger, he would become violent toward his family after drinking. He had a record of locking his children at home, preventing them from going to school, they alleged.

Additionally, they accused Su of borrowing money from illegal banks and stealing from their mother’s savings account, which held funds meant for their tuition fees. Su’s children told the judge that their mother was the one who provided for and raised them while their father made no contribution, and requested the judge relieve them of their obligation to support Su.

Su denied the accusations and said he sometimes brought NT$10,000 to NT$20,000 home; when he did not, it was because he was unemployed, CNA reported. After investigating the case, the judge confirmed Su’s children’s claims, and denied Su’s petition on the grounds that he had not lived with his children for a long time, nor fulfilled his responsibility to raise his children.