Ohio
For Ohio, statute is Section 2919.21; who owes the duty is 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; condition on the parent is 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; ability-to-pay qualifier is 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; civil or criminal is criminal, recorded from its source on 2026-08-31.
- State
- Ohio our reading
- Statute
- Section 2919.21 verified
- Who owes the duty
- 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 verified
- Condition on the 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 verified
- Ability-to-pay qualifier
- 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 verified
- Civil or criminal
- criminal our reading
- Penalty
- whoever violates division (A) or (B) of this section is guilty of nonsupport of dependents, a misdemeanor of the first degree verified
- Defences in the statute
- 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. verified
- Limited to public assistance cases
- not stated our reading
Values marked our reading are our classification of what the source says — the source does not print them in those words. The quote below is the evidence for each one; judge it yourself.
What the source says
Section 2919.21 | Nonsupport or contributing to nonsupport of dependents. Ohio Revised Code / Title 29 Crimes-Procedure / Chapter 2919 Offenses Against the Family Effective: April 6, 2023 Latest Legislation: House Bill 281 - 134th General Assembly PDF: Download Authenticated PDF (A) 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, who from lack of ability and means is unable to provide adequately for the parent's own support.
— codes.ohio.gov, retrieved 2026-08-31
Where each value comes from
This source states these in separate places, so each value is shown with the passage that states it.
Who owes the duty and Limited to public assistance cases
(A) 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, who from lack of ability and means is unable to provide adequately for the parent's own support.
Condition on the parent
(3) The person's 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.
Ability-to-pay qualifier
(D) It is an affirmative defense to a charge of failure to provide adequate support under division (A) of this section or a charge of failure to provide support established by a court order under division (B) of this section that 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.
Civil or criminal and Penalty
(G)(1) Except as otherwise provided in this division, whoever violates division (A) or (B) of this section is guilty of nonsupport of dependents, a misdemeanor of the first degree.
Defences in the statute
(E) 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.
— all from codes.ohio.gov, retrieved 2026-08-31
Source
- codes.ohio.govhttps://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code/section-2919.21