Also known as: persistent nonsupport · persistent non support · persistently nonsupporting · nonsupport · failure to support
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A misdemeanor consisting of the persistent failure to provide support that the actor can provide and knows he is legally obliged to provide to a spouse, child, or other dependent.
Priya Prasad gave birth after a brief relationship with Pedro Pacheco. Pedro left the area without providing any support or contact information for months. When Priya arranged an adoption, Pedro later objected but the court proceeded without his consent due to his prolonged failure to support the child.
Paige Porter and Pavel Petrov agreed to raise twins together after using assisted reproduction. After their relationship ended, Paige stopped providing any financial support despite her ability to do so. The court held her responsible for ongoing support obligations to the children she had helped bring into the world.
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Piper Patel owed years of unpaid child support from a prior marriage. State law barred her from obtaining a new marriage license until the arrears were addressed. The restriction was challenged as an unconstitutional burden on the right to marry.
Paula Pierce fell behind on child support payments and faced civil contempt proceedings. The court jailed her for noncompliance even though she could not afford an attorney at the hearing. The lack of appointed counsel raised due process concerns in the enforcement action.
Premier Manufacturing employee Pedro Pacheco was subject to a support order entered in his home state. After moving, he sought modification in the new state but the original decree controlled under full faith and credit principles.
Phoenix Technologies worker Pavel Petrov fathered a child out of wedlock and provided no support. The mother sued for enforcement, and the court recognized the child's right to equal treatment in obtaining support from the biological father.
The offense requires that the actor knows he is legally obliged to provide support and can provide it yet persistently fails to do so.
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The Model Penal Code classifies persistent non-support as a misdemeanor.
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Prolonged failure to support or contact can render an unmarried father's consent unnecessary for adoption under state statutes that treat such conduct as abandonment.
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Under the Uniform Probate Code a parent may be barred from inheriting from a child when clear and convincing evidence shows the parent's rights could have been terminated for nonsupport.
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…obligations may result in conviction of the felony offense of abandonment of a minor child, § 52.05, or the misdemeanor of failure to support a minor child, § 52.055. [^maj-18]: See Hohfeld, Some Fundamental Legal Conceptions as Applied in Judicial Reasoning, 23 Yale L. J. 16 (1913). [^maj-19]: See ante , at 386. [^maj-20]:…