AN ACT to clarify the state's filial responsibility law.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  G.S. 14‑326.1 reads as rewritten:

§ 14‑326.1.  Parents; failure to support.

(a)        Requirement and Punishment. – If any person being of full age, and having sufficient income after reasonably providing for his or her own immediate family shall, without reasonable cause, neglect to maintain and support his or her parent or parents, if such parent or parents be sick or not able to work and have not sufficient means or ability to maintain or support themselves, such person shall be deemed guilty of a Class 2 misdemeanor; upon conviction of a second or subsequent offense such person shall be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.

(b)        Multiple Responsible Parties. – If there be more than one person bound under the provisions of the next preceding paragraph to support the same parent or parents, they shall share equitably in the discharge of such duty.

(c)        Construction. – Nothing in this section shall be construed as requiring a person to be liable or otherwise responsible for a debt contracted for or otherwise incurred by the person's parent or parents.

SECTION 2.  This act is effective when it becomes law.