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11.5.3.5 Juvenile Restitution Owed by Parents

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  5. 11.5.3 Dischargeability of Criminal Justice Debts Under Chapter 7
  6. 11.5.3.5 Juvenile Restitution Owed by Parents

11.5.3.5 Juvenile Restitution Owed by Parents

Courts generally hold that juvenile criminal justice debt owed by parents is dischargeable in a chapter 7 bankruptcy. Courts focus primarily on two factors—the action’s non-penal nature and the fact that the obligated parents are not the culpable actor.300 The Ninth Circuit has also rejected the argument that the costs of a juvenile’s incarceration charged to a legal guardian are excepted from discharge as a domestic support obligation.301

Footnotes

  • 300 Cregger v. State Cent. Collection Unit, 2015 WL 5829728 (D. Md. Oct. 1, 2015) (restitution order against parent of juvenile offender did not have penal purpose); Smith v. Sims (In re Sims), 2012 WL 528156 (Bankr. S.D. Miss. Feb. 17, 2012) (restitution imposed on parent by juvenile court based on minor child’s acts not shown to have penal or rehabilitative purpose and not shown to benefit state); In re Ellis, 224 B.R. 786 (Bankr. D. Idaho 1998).

  • 301 Rivera v. Orange Cty. Probation Dep’t, 832 F.3d 1103 (9th Cir. 2016) (finding not applicable to the exception to discharge under section 523(a)(5)).