Are Missouri Parents Responsible When Their Child Causes an Injury?

Chances are you found your way here because:

• you were injured by a child in Missouri, and you want to know if the state has a parental responsibility law that lets you go after the child's parents to recover compensation (damages), or
• you're the Missouri parent of a kid who injured someone or damaged their property, and you're worried that you might be on the hook to pay for it.

Either way, you're in the right place.

Are Missouri parents financially responsible for the misbehavior of their children? Sometimes, yes, they are. We explain Missouri's three parental responsibility statutes, the types of misconduct they cover, limits on parents' financial liability, and more. Because these laws only apply to children or minors, we begin with a quick overview of the age of majority in Missouri.

What's the Legal Age in Missouri?

Under the state's juvenile code, Missouri's age of majority is 18 years. (See Mo. Rev. Stat. § 211.021(2) (2024).) The same rule applies in cases involving Missouri's parental responsibility laws, unless the controlling statute provides a different age. Bottom line: For purposes of parental responsibility, a child is of legal age in Missouri on their 18th birthday.

Missouri's Parental Responsibility Statutes

Missouri's three parental responsibility statutes include:

• a statute fining parents if their child defaces state property (the "state property statute")
• a law authorizing courts to order that parents pay restitution for their child's criminal acts (the "restitution statute"), and
• a statute making parents pay damages when their child harms property or causes injuries (the "property damage and personal injury statute").

As we'll see, the state property and property damage and personal injury statutes are "vicarious liability" laws. They make parents pay not for anything they did wrong, but for their child's wrongful acts. The restitution statute, by contrast, requires a finding of wrongdoing by the parents for the statute to operate against them.

The State Property Statute

If a child writes, scribbles or marks on, or otherwise defaces state property, both the child and their parents are liable for a penalty of up to $500. The penalty is collected in a civil lawsuit the state files against them. (Mo. Rev. Stat. § 8.150 (2024).)

The Restitution Statute

The juvenile division of the Missouri Circuit Court can order both a child and the child's parents to pay restitution when the child is found guilty of:

• stealing, damaging, destroying, or decreasing the value of the victim's property, or
• injuring the victim, causing the victim to incur medical, funeral, or burial expenses.

But this isn't a vicarious liability law. For a parent to be subject to restitution, the court must find that they "failed to exercise reasonable parental discipline or authority to prevent the damage or loss... ." (Mo. Rev. Stat. § 211.185.1 (2024).)

The court must hold a restitution hearing. Parents should have a "reasonable opportunity" to appear and present evidence at the hearing. They can retain and be represented by counsel. (Mo. Rev. Stat. § 211.185.7 (2024).)

The Property Damage and Personal Injury Statute

Under Mo. Rev. Stat. § 537.045.1 (2024), a minor child's custodial parents are responsible for paying up to $2,000 of any judgment entered against their child when:

• the child has purposely marked on, defaced, or damaged property, and
• the parents are named as defendants in the property owner's lawsuit.

Parental payment doesn't bar a criminal charge against the child. In addition, the child remains liable for any part of the judgment in excess of the $2,000 their parents paid.

Parents are also on the hook under Mo. Rev. Stat. § 537.045.2 (2024) when their child purposely causes personal injuries. Here too:

• the most parents can be forced to pay is $2,000
• the child remains liable for any amount not paid by a parent, and
• the child can be criminally charged.

Finally, note that under both of these provisions, parents are liable only for their child's purposeful—meaning intentional—acts. A child's simple negligence, or carelessness, doesn't expose their parents to financial liability.

Cumulative Cap on All Three Statutes

Mo. Rev. Stat. § 211.185.9 (2024) puts a cumulative $4,000 cap on the total amount of "restitution" a child and the child's parents can be required to pay under all three parental responsibility statutes. Unfortunately, this cumulative cap rule suffers from some ambiguities.

First, it caps only "restitution." The restitution statute clearly is concerned with restitution. But the state property statute speaks of a "penalty," not restitution. Similarly, the property damage and personal injury statute refers to a "judgment" and not to restitution. Stated more directly, it isn't clear how the $4,000 restitution cap is meant to apply across all three statutes.

Second, the statute doesn't clearly say whether this $4,000 cumulative cap is per victim, per incident, or an aggregate for all victims and incidents that are part of the same course of misbehavior. Each individual statute suffers from this ambiguity, too.

Long story short: Missouri courts might need to interpret the parental responsibility statutes to resolve these ambiguities. Ask your lawyer for details.

Missouri Parents Are Responsible for Their Own Wrongful Acts

You shouldn't be surprised to learn that even if a Missouri parent isn't vicariously liable for their child's wrongdoing, they can still be responsible for their own intentional or negligent misconduct. When a parent's harmful acts combine with their child's harmful acts to produce injuries or property damage, parent and child each are liable for their share of the blame.

Here's an example. With his parents' permission, 17-year-old Bob hosted an end-of-season party for his school's football team in the basement of their home. Beer and alcohol flowed freely at the party. Bob's parents knew that Bob and most of the other underage attendees were drinking but did nothing to stop them.

When the party wound down, Bob asked his father for the keys to the car so Bob could drive a friend home. Bob's father knew Bob had been drinking and was under the influence of alcohol but, reasoning that the friend lived just a short distance away, he gave Bob the keys.

Bob lost control of the car and hit a tree, seriously injuring his friend. At the accident scene, Bob's blood alcohol level measured .14%, well above Missouri's legal limit even for those of lawful drinking age. The friend and his parents sued Bob and Bob's father. They claimed that Bob's father negligently entrusted him with the family vehicle despite knowing that Bob was drunk.

After a trial, the jury agreed. Jurors found Bob 60% at fault for the accident and assigned the remaining 40% of the blame to his father. They assessed the injured friend's personal injury damages at $1.1 million. Under Missouri law, Bob's father is liable for at least $440,000 ($1.1 million x 40%) in damages.

Get Help With Your Parental Responsibility Claim

At first glance, it might seem that a Missouri parental responsibility claim should be simple, especially if a parent is vicariously liable for their child's harmful conduct. Don't be fooled. Difficult factual and legal issues are likely to appear. Without legal counsel to guide you through the process, you're at a real disadvantage. Your opponent will be represented by an attorney. You should be, too.

When you're ready to move forward with your claim, here's how to find a lawyer who's right for your case.