2021 Georgia Code
Title 19 - Domestic Relations
Chapter 6 - Alimony and Child Support
Article 1 - General Provisions
§ 19-6-13. Liability of Parents for Necessaries Furnished to Children Pending Voluntary Provision or Court Order
Until otherwise provided voluntarily or by decree or order of a court, each party shall be liable to third persons for the board and support and for all necessaries furnished to or for the benefit of the parties' children.
(Orig. Code 1863, § 1696; Code 1868, § 1739; Code 1873, § 1749; Code 1882, § 1749; Civil Code 1895, § 2469; Civil Code 1910, § 2988; Code 1933, § 30-215; Ga. L. 1979, p. 466, § 19.)
Law reviews.- For note, "Determining Eligibility for Year's Support in Georgia: The Tension Between Status and Dependence Requirements," see 22 Ga. L. Rev. 1167 (1988).
JUDICIAL DECISIONS
Purpose and intent of statute was to relieve father (now both spouses) of common-law liability to support minor child or children, and substitute therefor a liability by virtue of a court decree. Thomas v. Holt, 209 Ga. 133, 70 S.E.2d 595 (1952); Booker v. Booker, 219 Ga. 358, 133 S.E.2d 353 (1963); Clark v. Clark, 228 Ga. 838, 188 S.E.2d 487 (1972).
What are "necessaries" is question for determination of jury according to the circumstances and condition of life of the children. Madden v. Keith, 146 Ga. App. 13, 245 S.E.2d 350 (1978).
Necessary hospital and medical services and ordinary funeral expenses are "necessaries" for which the child's parent is liable, in the absence of any special contract by which those services are furnished on the account of another. Blue Ridge Park Nurseries v. Owen, 41 Ga. App. 98, 152 S.E. 485 (1930).
Measure of award for period prior to paternity adjudication.
- When the court denied a request by the mother of a child for an award of back support from the father for those periods during the child's life, before paternity was established, when she had not been receiving public assistance benefits, the amount of the back support to which she was entitled was not to be measured by the father's ability to pay during the periods in question, but by the expenses actually incurred by the mother on the child's behalf. Weaver v. Chester, 195 Ga. App. 471, 393 S.E.2d 715 (1990).
Husband's responsibility for children's support did not extend to awarding title to property. He was not required to settle an estate upon them. Clark v. Clark, 228 Ga. 838, 188 S.E.2d 487 (1972).
Creditor has no lien.
- One furnishing the wife with necessaries as set out in statute stood on the same plane as any other creditor of the husband, and had no lien which he can assert on property of the husband sold to a bona fide purchaser for value before his claim has been reduced to judgment. Lamar v. Jennings, 69 Ga. 392 (1882).
Alleging cause of action.
- Allegation that a husband and father failed to supply his wife and daughter with necessaries, and that they were furnished by the plaintiff at the request of the wife and mother, set forth a cause of action under the statute. Humphreys v. Bush, 118 Ga. 628, 45 S.E. 911 (1903).
Cited in Levine v. Seley, 217 Ga. 384, 123 S.E.2d 1 (1961); Barnett v. Barnett, 231 Ga. 808, 204 S.E.2d 168 (1974).
RESEARCH REFERENCES
Am. Jur. 2d.
- 24A Am. Jur. 2d, Divorce and Separation, §§ 609, 610, 613.
C.J.S.- 27C C.J.S., Divorce, § 1149.
ALR.
- Civil liability of father for necessaries furnished to child taken from home by mother, 32 A.L.R. 1466.
Nature of care contemplated by statute imposing general duty to care for indigent relatives, 92 A.L.R.2d 348.
Propriety of decree in proceeding between divorced parents to determine mother's duty to pay support for children in custody of father, 98 A.L.R.3d 1146.
