Q. Is it permitted for a son to seat himself on the place assigned to or acquired by his father in shul, when the father is not attending?
A. Talmud (Kidushun 31b) and Shulchan Aruch (Y.D. 240: 2) rule that a son should not seat on his father’s place, as part of the mitzva of fearing and honoring one’s father.
Binyan Olam (Y.D. 47) maintains that the above depends on the reason why this particular seat was assigned to the father. If it was acquired by him via the payment of a fee, the son may also use it.
However, if it was allotted to the farther as an honor to his eminence as a Talmid Chacham or as a tribute to his distinction in any other areas, the son should not use that seat.
Rabbi A. Bartfeld as revised by Horav Shlomo Miller Shlit’a