Can parents kick out adult children? Lawyer Danstan Omari explains

For many Kenyan families, the debate is familiar: What do you do with a 30-year-old son who still lives in his mother’s house, or a daughter earning a good salary but still living with their parents?

According to lawyer Danstan Omari, the law has little to say about a growing reality: adults who never leave home, even after getting jobs, degrees, or spouses.

In his latest episode on Court Helicopter News, Omari tackled what he calls one of the “most explosive” issues in family law: Can parents legally chase away adult children?

When parental responsibility ends

Omari begins by grounding the discussion in the law. Under the Children Act and Article 53 of the Constitution, parents must provide their children with shelter, food, and care.

This responsibility automatically extends past 18 if the child is still in university, college or any formal education. In such cases, accommodation remains compulsory, whether the child is living at home or in a hostel.

Failing to provide for a child still in school, Omari warned, can lead to civil or criminal action.

“You can be taken to court and compelled to pay. Your salary can be attached, or you can be jailed,” he explained.

The “tarmacking” generation

A second category includes young adults who have finished school but are still jobless.

Here, Omari says the law offers no protection:

“There is no law that will compel a parent to provide accommodation for these children who are not in school.”

Parents may still choose to host them, but only out of goodwill, not legal duty.

Adults with jobs… and still at home

Then comes the group that fuels endless memes and family fights: employed adults who refuse to leave.

Omari says the law is completely silent here.

“The law is a lacuna. You cannot be supported by the law to stay there when you are married, when you are working. But you also cannot be evicted because there is no provision.”

This grey area becomes even more complicated when the adult child is married and returns home with a spouse, and sometimes a baby. 

Many Kenyan parents, especially mothers, continue cooking, washing, or even paying bills for their grown children and their partners.

Should they chase them out? Can they?

Legally, Omari says, nothing guides such cases. Families must rely on relationships, culture, and common sense.

Parents who refuse to let go

Omari also highlighted the opposite scenario: parents who block their adult children from leaving because they fear they are “still kids.”

A parent cannot legally restrain or detain anyone above 18.

“Anybody who is above 18 years is expected to be able to make that decision,” he said.

A growing social dilemma with no legal answers

Omari’s breakdown reveals a reality many Kenyans live with, extended dependence, shrinking job opportunities, cultural expectations, and rising living costs.

But legally? Kenya offers almost no direction.

“This is the first time the law is not clear because there is no law to deal with those matters,” he said, promising more episodes on such controversial family questions.

Omari’s breakdown exposes a gap that many Kenyan families quietly navigate every day. 

With the law offering no real direction, the responsibility shifts back to households, to talk, to compromise, and sometimes to confront uncomfortable truths.