Duties of Adult Children Toward Their Parents

Adult children normally have no legal responsibilities toward their parents. In return, their parents have no legal duties toward them. However, there are exceptions. In some states, children must support parents who are financially destitute. Children may be excused from payment if they cannot afford to support the parent or if the parent had abandoned the child. In Montana, a child does not have to support an indigent parent if a judge or jury finds “the child is excused by reason of intemperance, indolence, immorality, or profligacy of the parent.”