Parental liability for teen

[Responsible_Father]

This is, thank heavens, a hypothetical question, but one which is causing a lot or argument in our household. Our state is, not surprisingly, California.
Who is potentially liable when two minors have intercourse by mutual consent (i.e. not forcible) and the girl becomes pregnant (i.e. both are under 18 at the time of conception)? What if one of them is under 16? Can the parents of the boy be held liable? If so, what is the liability if the boy is 15, 16, 17 or 18? Ditto for the girl.
Where would statutory rape come into the argument.
While this is theoretical at this stage, and I hope will stay that way, I am sure a lot of teens and parents have no idea of who could end up being held responsible for what....

 

[LegalBeagle]

Here are the basics...
http://www.calbar.org/2pub/3kids/4kids-24.htm

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Psst.. I am not an attorney, and even if I was, I would not tell you. Which technically could mean I am an attorney, but I would not tell you either way. What I am giving you is not legal advice in anyway. For proper legal advice, retain a person who openly admits they are an attorney.

 

[Responsible_Father]

Thanks for the link. It certainly explains Statutory Rape, but doesn't cover the liability aspect, especially when both children are minors under the age of 18. In a nutshell, what liability do parents have if their son impregnates another minor of about the same age? Can the son's parents be sued and if so, for what? Like I said this is, thankfully for us, theoretical but I am sure the answer would be of general interest and use.

 

[I AM ALWAYS LIABLE]

My response:

Putting aside the potential for criminal law violations, the male and female minors are, and remain, the only persons liable for support, both before and after a live birth. The Grandparents have no liability in this matter for support of a grandchild born to minor children.

Then you ask, if the Grandparents aren't liable for the support of their minor children's child, who is?

Assuming the minor parents are still too young to work, the Custodial Parent (usually the minor mother), will be required, out of necessity, to file for, and obtain, Public Assistance - - such as "Aid to Families With Dependant Children."

In that instance, the Public Agency will Petition the court for orders for reimbursement upon the male and female's age of majority and/or when either takes a job at any age, so that reimbursements, including interest charges, can be deducted from payroll checks. If work is not sought by one or both minors to pay for the Public Assistance, a court will "impute" the ability to earn an income upon the minor children upon their majority - - this will have the effect of "forcing" the minor children to, at least, take a McDonald's type job to start reimbursing the Public Agency (there's more to this part, but it goes too far afield for your question).

Suffice it to say, in California, a parent, like yourself, is only responsible for their minor child's "malicious acts". Sexual encounters between minors (unless the same is forced by one minor upon the other) are not regarded as malicious and, at least in theory, only the minor children are responsible for their offspring - - but that's only "going by the book" - - you and I, along with everyone on this Board knows, all too well, that the reality of such a situation will be very costly for Grandparents due to not wanting to see their grandchild on public assistance, or to have "less" than what you think the child should have. This is only natural.

I certainly hope this helps.

IAAL

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[Responsible_Father]

Thanks, IAAL, for a very clear response.
Frankly, I am surprised that's how it works. Leaving out Statutory Rape I kind of expected the boy's parents to be at risk as they are legally responsible for the boy while he is a minor. I stressed 'sex by consent' in this scenario because I would imagine there is a different situation if the girl was forced to have the intercourse that resulted in pregnancy (i.e. 'raped' if you can use that word when both are minors under 18). But when both children were willing participants, and knew the consequences, I figured the baby would tend to stay with the girl, the girl's parents were responsible for her medical bills etc etc and thus would or could seek compensation from the boy's parents. Then I got to wondering where it could go after that, certainly until one or both parents turned 18.
Obviously if this WERE to happen (and I sure hope it doesn't but this is a different world to when I went through being a teenager!) then to the best of our financial ability we would ensure the baby was not affected by the situation.
I guess I was really looking for whether the boy's parents could be sued for anything above and beyond a fair share of the actual costs - i.e. could we be sued for emotional distress to the girl or her parents, for damages etc etc.
Your reply seems to says the kids got themselves into this and have to get themselves out of it one way or another, and while decent [grand]parents will do what they can they are not legally obligated to pay for their minors' mistakes.