A parent of a minor child who intentionally omits without lawful excuse to furnish necessary food, clothing, shelter, medical attendance, other remedial care, or other means of support for the person's child is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor. If a parent, during a violation, leaves the state and is absent for more than thirty days, the person is guilty of a Class 6 felony. If a child is under treatment solely by spiritual means, the court may, as provided under § 26-8A-22, order that medical treatment be provided for the child. For the purposes of this section, unemployment without justifiable excuse or without verifiability of searching for employment is not a lawful excuse for noncompliance.
S.D. Codified Laws § 25-7-16
Nonsupport of child by parent as misdemeanor--Felony where parent leaves state--Spiritual treatment--Unemployment
Applied in 7 court decisions — leading case Simpson v. Tobin (1985)
Most recently applied in Department of Social Services of South Dakota Ex Rel. Wright v. Byer (May 2004)
Source: SDC 1939, § 13.3204 as enacted by SL 1963, ch 56, § 1; SL 1977, ch 189, § 95; SL 1981, ch 196; SL 1990, ch 170, § 3; SL 1991, ch 217, § 170; SL 1994, ch 201.
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: South Dakota Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain South Dakota statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.