The father and mother of a child under the age of eighteen are equally entitled to its services and earnings. If one of the parents is dead, or has abandoned the child, or been deprived of its custody by court decree, the other is entitled to its services and earnings. The parents jointly may maintain an action for loss of the services or earnings of their child under the age of eighteen when the loss is occasioned by an injury wrongfully or negligently inflicted upon the child. But if either the father or mother is dead, or has abandoned the child, or has been deprived of its custody by court decree, or refuses to sue, the other may sue alone. This section shall not affect the existing law relating to workers' compensation and industrial accidents.
KRS 405.010
Parents entitled to services and earnings of child -- Suit for loss of
Known as the The Representative Thomas J. Burch Safe Infants Act
The act spans §§ 405–405 (69 sections).
Applied in 3 court decisions — leading case Behemoth Coal Co. v. Helton (1949)
Most recently applied in Commonwealth v. Hallahan (May 1965)
History: Amended 1968 Ky
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Official source: Kentucky General Assembly. Reproduced from public-domain Kentucky statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.