Courts would require offenders to support children of killed or incapacitated victims

Courts would order convicted offenders to pay reasonable and necessary child support to the child's parent or guardian. Support would cover each minor child of a victim whose incapacitation or death resulted from the offender's crime. The victim must be the child's parent or guardian. Courts would consider the child's needs, family financial resources, living arrangements, and care expenses when setting support. Civil court judgments obtained by the victim or the victim's family would block or reduce support as described below. Support would last until the child reaches 18 and either graduates from high school or the class they belonged to at 18 graduates. Payments would continue until all overdue support is paid.

Courts would withhold or reduce child support orders when the victim or the victim's family obtains a civil court judgment against the offender. These rules would cover civil lawsuits against the same offender brought by the victim or the victim's family. If the lawsuit is filed and a judgment is obtained before the support order, the court would not order support. If the lawsuit is filed after the support order and results in a judgment, the support order would be reduced by that judgment's amount. If enacted, the proposal would take effect after publication in the statute book.