A Canadian court has agreed to hear a woman's arguments for why she thinks her five estranged adult children should pay to help support her.

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Shirley Anderson, 73, of Kootenay, British Columbia, must submit her financial documents to the provincial Supreme Court by Dec. 2 and discovery hearings would then be held in January, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported Wednesday.

If she doesn't comply with the timetable set Tuesday by Justice William Ehrcke, she will lose her right to seek redress under a rarely used section of British Columbia's Family Relations Act, which provides that adult children are responsible for legally supporting parents "dependent on a child because of age, illness, infirmity or economic circumstances."

Anderson had first gone to court in 2000, seeking $750 a month. Her children objected, citing years of alienation, and she was accorded $50 a month, split five ways among her children. That's the way it stayed until 2008 when one son, Kenneth, said he shouldn't have to pay anything because he was abandoned by his parents when he was 15 years old.

His mother disputes his claims.

Three of the siblings applied to have the parental support case dismissed by the Supreme Court of Canada.