22 records

Does my state have a law that makes me liable for my parent's nursing home or medical bill, and what does it say?

22 records, one fact each. Every value is transcribed from the source that states it and carries the sentence it was taken from: 22 sources across 21 sites, last checked 2026-08-31, due for re-check by 2027-08-31. Every record is listed below, each linking the page its value came from.

Records22

Sources22

Verified2026-08-31

Review by2027-08-31

LicenceState statutes; statutory text and the facts in it are not copyrightable, quoted with citation to the publishing authority.

About this data

For each US state, whether a filial support statute is on the books and what it provides: who owes the duty, the condition the parent must be in for it to arise, the ability-to-pay qualifier, whether the remedy is civil or criminal, the penalty the statute names, who may bring the action, and the defences the statute writes in. The distinctions that decide real cases are invisible in every existing list: Pennsylvania's 23 Pa.C.S. § 4603 imposes the duty 'regardless of whether the indigent person is a public charge', which is what let a nursing home sue a son directly; New Jersey's N.J.S.A. 44:1-140 is framed around public assistance; Massachusetts' M.G.L. c.273 § 20 is purely criminal, a $200 fine or a year's imprisonment; California's Fam. Code § 4410-4414 gives a child a court procedure to be relieved of the obligation where the parent abandoned them. Answers 'does [state] have a filial responsibility law', 'can a nursing home sue me for my mother's bill in [state]', and 'what is the abandonment defence in [state]'. This asset reports what statutes say, quoted and cited. It gives no advice about anyone's situation and does not tell a reader what to do.

The data

State	Statute	Who owes the duty	Condition on the parent	Ability-to-pay qualifier	Civil or criminal	Who may bring the action	Limited to public assistance cases	Penalty	Defences in the statute	In force or repealed
Alaska	§ 25.20.030	Each child is bound to maintain the child's parents	poor and unable to work to maintain themselves
California	4400	an adult child shall, to the extent of the adult child’s ability, support a parent who is in need and unable to self-maintain by work	a parent who is in need and unable to self-maintain by work	to the extent of the adult child’s ability	civil	A parent, or the county on behalf of the parent, may bring an action against the child to enforce the duty of support under this part.	extends beyond public charge
Connecticut	Sec. 53-304	Any person who neglects or refuses to furnish reasonably necessary support to the person's spouse, child under the age of eighteen or parent under the age of sixty-five	parent under the age of sixty-five	in such amount as the court may find commensurate with the necessities of the case and the ability of such person	criminal	prosecuted before any court of this state in the same manner as if such offense had been committed within the territorial jurisdiction of such court	not stated	shall be imprisoned not more than one year	unless the person shows to the court before which the trial is had that, owing to physical incapacity or other good cause, the person is unable to furnish such support
Delaware	§ 503	the duty to support a poor person unable to support the poor person’s own self rests upon the spouse, parents, or children, in that order	a poor person unable to support the poor person’s own self	If the relation prior in order shall not be able, the next in order shall be liable, and several relations of the same order shall, if able, contribute according to their means.	civil	The Family Court of the State shall have exclusive original jurisdiction over all actions arising under this chapter.	not stated		No person shall be required to support another while there is just cause for failing or refusing to do so.
Iowa	252.2									252.2 through 252.9 Repealed by 2015 Acts, ch 14, §3.
Maine	§4319	A parent of a child under 25 years of age and a spouse living in or owning property in the State	a dependent of a legally responsible parent or to a person's spouse who is financially capable of providing support	in proportion to their respective ability	civil	A municipality or the State, after providing general assistance	public assistance only		The assessment may not be made to pay any expense for relief provided more than 12 months before the complaint was filed.
Maryland	§13–102	If a destitute adult child is in this State and has a parent who has or is able to earn sufficient means, the parent may not neglect or refuse to provide the destitute adult child with food, shelter, care, and clothing.	a destitute adult child is in this State	a parent who has or is able to earn sufficient means	criminal		not stated	a fine not exceeding $1,000 or imprisonment not exceeding 1 year, or both
Massachusetts	Section 20	Any person, over eighteen, who, being possessed of sufficient means, unreasonably neglects or refuses to provide for the support and maintenance of his parent, whether father or mother, residing in the commonwealth	when such parent through misfortune and without fault of his own is destitute of means of sustenance and unable by reason of old age, infirmity or illness to support and maintain himself	being possessed of sufficient means	criminal		not stated	shall be punished by a fine of not more than two hundred dollars or by imprisonment for not more than one year, or both	No such neglect or refusal shall be deemed unreasonable as to a child who shall not during his minority have been reasonably supported by such parent, if such parent was charged with the duty so to do, nor as to a child who, being one of two or more children, has made proper and reasonable contribution toward the support of such parent.
Mississippi	§ 43-31-25	the descendants of any pauper not able to work	any pauper not able to work		civil	to be recovered in the name of the county	public assistance only	One Hundred Fifty Dollars ($150.00) per month, for each month they may so refuse
Montana	40-6-301									Repealed. Sec. 3, Ch. 213, L. 2021.
Nevada	NRS 428.070	The father, mother or child of sufficient financial ability, as appropriate, shall pay to the county the amount the county paid for the burial, entombment or cremation of a natural child or a natural parent.	a natural parent receiving county hospitalization pursuant to NRS 428.030	of sufficient financial ability	civil	The board of county commissioners shall advise the Attorney General of the failure of a responsible person to pay such amount and the Attorney General shall cause appropriate legal action to be taken to enforce the collection of all or part of such amount.	public assistance only		The child of a natural parent receiving county hospitalization pursuant to NRS 428.030 is not liable for the amount paid by the county for that parent, except where the natural child promised to support the natural parent in writing, has access to and control of the natural parent’s assets or income and has sufficient financial ability to support the natural parent.
New Hampshire	167:2	a father, mother, husband, or wife, who are declared jointly and severally liable for such assistance	Assistance rendered under this chapter or RSA 161 to anyone having a father, mother, husband or wife, whose weekly income or other resources are more than sufficient to provide a reasonable subsistence compatible with decency and health	whose weekly income or other resources are more than sufficient to provide a reasonable subsistence compatible with decency and health	civil	Such action shall be brought by the attorney general or the county attorney for the county in which any such relative resides when so requested by the commissioner of health and human services.	public assistance only		A parent shall be liable under this section only for assistance provided to a child under the age of 18, or for as long as the department of health and human services has the authority to recover support under Title IV of the Social Security Act.
New Jersey	44:1-140	The father and mother of a person under 18 years of age who applies for and is eligible to receive public assistance, and the children, and husband or wife, severally and respectively, of a person who applies for and is eligible to receive public assistance	a person who applies for and is eligible to receive public assistance	if of sufficient ability	civil	any county or municipal director of welfare, or by any court of competent jurisdiction upon its own initiative or the information of any person	public assistance only		The provisions of this section shall not apply to any person 55 years of age or over except with regard to his or her spouse, or his or her natural or adopted child under the age of 18 years.
North Carolina	G.S. 14‑326.1									SECTION 16.(a) G.S. 14‑326.1 is repealed. SECTION 16.(b) This section becomes effective July 1, 2025, and applies to offenses committed on or after that date.
North Dakota	14-09-10	Each parent and every adult child of an adult who is unable to support oneself shall maintain that adult to the extent of the ability of each.	an adult who is unable to support oneself	to the extent of the ability of each	civil	a creditor may not recover under this duty of support unless the: a. Recovery sought by a creditor is for the furnishing of necessary health services, which may include medical and long-term care services	extends beyond public charge		b. Recovery sought is from a parent or adult child who received a direct benefit from a disqualifying transfer of an asset under section 50-06.2-07 or 50-24.1-02; c. Recovery being sought from this parent or adult child does not exceed the fair market value, including any gain, resulting from the disqualifying transfer; and d. Disqualifying transfer occurred within five years of the receipt of the necessary health services or application for medical assistance.
Ohio	Section 2919.21	No person shall abandon, or fail to provide adequate support to: (1) The person's spouse, as required by law; (2) The person's child who is under age eighteen, or the persons's child with a mental or physical disability who is under age twenty-one; (3) The person's aged or infirm parent or adoptive parent	aged or infirm parent or adoptive parent, who from lack of ability and means is unable to provide adequately for the parent's own support	the accused was unable to provide adequate support or the established support but did provide the support that was within the accused's ability and means	criminal		not stated	whoever violates division (A) or (B) of this section is guilty of nonsupport of dependents, a misdemeanor of the first degree	It is an affirmative defense to a charge under division (A)(3) of this section that the parent abandoned the accused or failed to support the accused as required by law, while the accused was under age eighteen, or had a mental or physical disability and was under age twenty-one.
Oregon	109.010	children are bound to maintain their parents in like circumstances	poor and unable to work to maintain themselves				not stated
Pennsylvania	§ 4603	The spouse of the indigent person. (ii) A child of the indigent person. (iii) A parent of the indigent person.	an indigent person	If an individual does not have sufficient financial ability to support the indigent person.	civil	an indigent person; or (2) any other person or public body or public agency having any interest in the care, maintenance or assistance of such indigent person	extends beyond public charge	the court may hold the individual in contempt of court and may sentence the individual to up to six months' imprisonment	If an individual does not have sufficient financial ability to support the indigent person. (ii) A child shall not be liable for the support of a parent who abandoned the child and persisted in the abandonment for a period of ten years during the child's minority.
Rhode Island	§ 15-10-1	Any person, above the age of eighteen (18) years, who unreasonably neglects or refuses to provide for the support and maintenance of his or her parent, whether father or mother, residing in this state	through misfortune, and without fault of his or her own, is destitute of means of sustenance and unable by reason of old age, infirmity, or illness to support and maintain himself or herself		criminal		not stated	a fine not exceeding two hundred dollars ($200), or by imprisonment for not more than one year, or by both a fine and imprisonment	No neglect or refusal shall be deemed unreasonable as to a child who, during his or her minority, was not reasonably supported by the parent, if the parent was charged with the duty to do so, nor as to any child who, being one of two (2) or more children, has made proper and reasonable contribution toward the support of his or her destitute parent.
Virginia	§ 20-88	the joint and several duty of all persons eighteen years of age or over, of sufficient earning capacity or income, after reasonably providing for his or her own immediate family, to assist in providing for the support and maintenance of his or her mother or father	he or she being then and there in necessitous circumstances	of sufficient earning capacity or income, after reasonably providing for his or her own immediate family	both	upon the complaint of any party or on its own motion, compel contribution by that person to any person or authority which has theretofore contributed to the support or maintenance of the parent or parents	extends beyond public charge	shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine not exceeding $500 or imprisonment in jail for a period not exceeding twelve months or both	This section shall not apply if there is substantial evidence of desertion, neglect, abuse or willful failure to support any such child by the father or mother, as the case may be, prior to the child's emancipation or, except as provided hereafter in this section, if a parent is otherwise eligible for and is receiving public assistance or services under a federal or state program.
West Virginia	§9-5-9	The relatives of an indigent person, who are of sufficient ability, shall be liable to pay the direct cremation or direct burial expenses in the following order: (1) The spouse. (2) The children. (3) The parents. (4) The brothers and sisters.	an indigent person	who are of sufficient ability	civil	The department may proceed by motion in the circuit court of the county in which the indigent person may be, against one or more of the relatives liable.	public assistance only		The liability of the relative of an indigent person for funeral service expenses is limited to the amount paid by the department.
Wisconsin	49.90	The parent and spouse of any dependent person who is unable to maintain himself or herself shall maintain such dependent person, so far as able	any dependent person who is unable to maintain himself or herself	if they have sufficient ability, considering their own future maintenance and making reasonable allowance for the protection of the property and investments from which they derive their living and their care and protection in old age	civil	the corporation counsel shall, within 60 days, apply to the circuit court for the county in which the dependent person	public assistance only		those persons receiving benefits under federal Title XVI or under s. 49.77 shall not be deemed dependent persons

Where this came from

Every record above links the page it was taken from and quotes the sentence that states it. These are the 22 sources this dataset was assembled from.

codes.findlaw.comhttps://codes.findlaw.com/ak/title-25-marital-and-domestic-relations/ak-st-sect-25-20-030.html
leginfo.legislature.ca.govhttps://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displayText.xhtml?lawCode=FAM&division=9.&title=&part=4.&chapter=1.&article=
cga.ct.govhttps://www.cga.ct.gov/current/pub/chap_946.htm
delcode.delaware.govhttps://delcode.delaware.gov/title13/c005/sc01/index.html
legis.iowa.govhttps://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/code/252.pdf
legislature.maine.govhttps://legislature.maine.gov/statutes/22/title22sec4319.html
mgaleg.maryland.govhttps://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gfl&section=13-102&enactments=false
malegislature.govhttps://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartIV/TitleI/Chapter273/Section20
codes.findlaw.comhttps://codes.findlaw.com/ms/title-43-public-welfare/ms-code-sect-43-31-25.html
archive.legmt.govhttps://archive.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0400/chapter_0060/part_0030/section_0010/0400-0060-0030-0010.html
leg.state.nv.ushttps://www.leg.state.nv.us/NRS/NRS-428.html
gencourt.state.nh.ushttps://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/rsa/html/XII/167/167-2.htm
law.justia.comhttps://law.justia.com/codes/new-jersey/title-44/section-44-1-140/
ncleg.govhttps://www.ncleg.gov/EnactedLegislation/SessionLaws/HTML/2025-2026/SL2025-70.html
legis.nd.govhttps://www.legis.nd.gov/cencode/t14c09.pdf
codes.ohio.govhttps://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code/section-2919.21
oregonlegislature.govhttps://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors109.html
legis.state.pa.ushttps://www.legis.state.pa.us/WU01/LI/LI/CT/HTM/23/00.046.003.000..HTM
webserver.rilegislature.govhttps://webserver.rilegislature.gov/Statutes/TITLE15/15-10/15-10-1.htm
law.lis.virginia.govhttps://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title20/chapter5/section20-88/
code.wvlegislature.govhttps://code.wvlegislature.gov/9-5-9/
docs.legis.wisconsin.govhttps://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/document/statutes/49.90

Machine-readable

data.jsonThe whole dataset — every record with its source URL and source quote.
Open Knowledge Format bundleOne JSON object per line — every record's frontmatter and quoted span exactly as it is held here, in one fetch.
data.csvThe same records as one flat table, for a spreadsheet or a dataframe. The last four columns are the source URL, the quoted sentence it was read from, the date we last checked it, and which columns are our reading rather than the page's words.
How this is made and checkedWhat "verified against source" does and does not mean.

From your own code

Same records, same quotes, without scraping the page: refsource is on PyPI and npm. Each value comes back carrying the URL it was read from and the sentence on that page that states it — .source and .quote sit on the value itself rather than in a side channel, so the checking step is available instead of skipped.

pip install refsource
refsource lookup filial-responsibility-laws-by-state state=Alaska

npx -y refsource lookup filial-responsibility-laws-by-state state=Alaska

Set your AI assistant up to use this

Two files and no account. Put this in .mcp.json at the root of your project — Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, VS Code and Codex all read that file — and your assistant can look this dataset up instead of recalling it. The server is remote, keyless and read-only.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "referencesource": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://referencesource.org/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Add to Cursor · or, on the command line: claude mcp add --transport http referencesource https://referencesource.org/mcp --scope project

Then one line in the project's CLAUDE.md or AGENTS.md, so the assistant knows when to reach for it:

When a question needs "Filial responsibility laws by state — what each statute actually says about an adult child's liability for a parent's care", call the referencesource MCP server at https://referencesource.org/mcp (tool `search_records`, dataset_slug `filial-responsibility-laws-by-state`) instead of answering from memory — every record it returns carries its source URL and a verbatim quote from that page.

What each tool does, and the servers built over single registers: Connect your AI assistant.

22 records. last verified against source 2026-08-31. due for re-check by 2027-08-31.

Licence. State statutes; statutory text and the facts in it are not copyrightable, quoted with citation to the publishing authority.