Kansas Statutes 38-2324. Liability of parent or guardian for assistance provided juvenile, exceptions
Terms Used In Kansas Statutes 38-2324
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Month: means a calendar month, unless otherwise expressed. See Kansas Statutes 77-201
- Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
- Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
(a) Except as provided in subsection (b), a juvenile’s parent shall be liable to repay to the commissioner of juvenile justice, or any other person or entity who provides services pursuant to a court order issued under the code, any assistance expended on the juvenile’s behalf, regardless of the specific program under which the assistance is or has been provided. Such services shall include, but not be limited to, probation, conditional release, aftercare supervision, case management and community corrections. When more than one person is legally obligated to support the juvenile, liability to the commissioner or other person or entity shall be joint and several. The commissioner or other person or entity shall have the power and authority to file a civil action in the name of the commissioner or other person or entity for repayment of the assistance, regardless of the existence of any other action involving the support of the juvenile.
(b) With respect to an individual parent, the provisions of subsection (a) shall not apply to:
(1) Assistance provided on behalf of any person other than the juvenile of the parent;
(2) assistance provided during a month in which the needs of the parent were included in the assistance provided to the juvenile; or
(3) assistance provided during a month in which the parent has fully complied with the terms of an order of support for the juvenile, if a court of competent jurisdiction has considered the issue of support. For the purposes of this subsection, if an order is silent on the issue of support, it shall not be presumed that the court has considered the issue of support. Amounts paid for a particular month pursuant to a judgment under this section shall be credited against the amount accruing for the same month under any other order of support for the juvenile, up to the amount of the current support obligation for that month.
(c) When the assistance provided during a month is on behalf of more than one person, the amount of assistance provided on behalf of one person for that month shall be determined by dividing the total assistance by the number of people on whose behalf assistance was provided.
(d) Actions authorized herein are in addition to and not in substitution for any other remedies.