Opinion ID: 2425372
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: legal obligation

Text: Every parent has a legal obligation to provide for his or her children, and a failure to do so without good cause is an offense against the State by virtue of § 568.040.1. State v. Nichols, 725 S.W.2d 927, 928 (Mo.App.1987). However, prosecution under the criminal nonsupport statute should not be viewed as a means to enforce a dissolution decree. Id. Therefore, evidence regarding defendant's failure to make decretal support payments as well as evidence purporting to justify this failure, while not all together irrelevant, are not conclusive of the issue of the existence of a legal obligation to support. Id. However, proof of the relationship of parent to minor child is sufficient to establish prima facie basis for a legal obligation of support.