Updated September 4, 2026. Quick answer: Connecticut’s criminal nonsupport statute reaches a parent only if that parent is under 65, so in practice it does not cover the nursing-home scenario this page is usually read for, and the civil companion law that once let a court order a child to support an older parent was repealed in 1984.
What Connecticut actually sets out
| What the statute sets out | What it says |
|---|---|
| Conn. Gen. Stat. Sec. 53-304(a) | “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 shall be deemed guilty of nonsupport and shall be imprisoned not more than one year, unless the person shows to the court… that, owing to physical incapacity or other good cause, the person is unable to furnish such support.” |
| The age cutoff that guts it for elder care | The statute’s own text limits the covered parent to one ‘under the age of sixty-five.’ Nursing-home residents are almost always 65 or older, so this criminal statute categorically does not reach the classic elder-care scenario. |
| The civil companion, repealed as to parents in 1984 | Conn. Gen. Stat. Sec. 46b-215 once let a court order a child to support a parent under 65. Its own official history note reads: P.A. 84-159 amended Subsec. (a) by removing the authority of the court to make and enforce orders against children for the payment of support for their parents who are under 65 years of age. Current Sec. 46b-215 covers only a spouse or a child under 18. |
| Desertion defense, Conn. Gen. Stat. Sec. 46b-219 | “No person shall be liable under any provision of the general statutes for the support of a parent who wilfully deserted such person continuously during the ten-year period prior to such person reaching his majority.” |
| Case law | The statute’s own official annotations list decades of nonsupport cases, but every one concerns a spouse or a minor child, not an adult child’s duty to a parent. No reported case applying Sec. 53-304’s parent clause to an adult child was found. |
How it works in practice
- Because Sec. 53-304 only covers a parent under 65, and Sec. 46b-215’s parent clause was repealed in 1984, Connecticut is, in practical effect, not a state where an adult child of an elderly parent faces filial liability under either statute.
- The statute is criminal, not civil, prosecuted through the ordinary criminal process rather than a private lawsuit by a nursing home.
- The desertion defense in Sec. 46b-219 applies to any provision of the general statutes, so it would reach Sec. 53-304 too, for the narrow band of cases (a parent under 65) the statute still covers.
What a filial responsibility statute is, why most of them sit unused, and which state is the one with documented recent enforcement is explained on the filial responsibility laws by state page. How this fits alongside the other two mechanisms that can turn a parent’s medical debt into a living person’s debt is explained on who actually owes medical bills after a death, and what a nursing home may and may not ask a family member to sign at admission is on the admission agreement traps page. This page is the record for Connecticut.
What this page does not settle
- This page cannot identify who specifically prosecutes a Sec. 53-304 case; the statute text itself does not name the enforcing office, and ordinary Connecticut criminal procedure was not independently confirmed for this specific offense.
- This page reads the state’s own current code and 1 other primary source. A state can amend or repeal this section without the page around it changing, and a detail specific to your situation, such as a pending Medicaid application or a prior period of estrangement, can change which part of the statute applies.
- A statute existing is not the same question as whether it has ever been used. Enforcement history, where it exists at all, is noted on this page; where none was found, that is stated plainly rather than left blank.
- Every quotation here was read against the source on September 4, 2026. Nothing on this page is legal advice, and the statute’s own defenses and procedural requirements matter as much as its liability language.
Whether this statute actually reaches a given family’s situation is decided by a court on the specific facts, not by this page. Nothing here is legal advice, and no one should sign anything or send money on the strength of a web page.
Sources
- Conn. Gen. Stat. Chapter 946, Sec. 53-304 (Connecticut General Assembly)
- Conn. Gen. Stat. Chapter 816, Sec. 46b-215 and 46b-219 (Connecticut General Assembly)
The sources above were retrieved and read against the state text on September 4, 2026. Every quotation on this page was checked against those bytes.