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Constitutional Implications Of Parental Support Laws, Martin R. Levy, Sara W. Gross

University of Richmond Law Review

This article addresses the constitutionality of those statutes known as "parental support laws" or "relative support statutes" in light of the equal protection clause of the fourteenth amendment to the United States Constitution. These statutes impose upon a person the duty to support an indigent parent or other impoverished relatives. This article focuses only on the statutory duty of children-under threat of punishment-to support indigent parents. In order to pass Constitutional muster under the requirements of the equal protection clause, there must be established at least a rational relationship between the class designated by the statute and the objective of …