15 V.S.A. § 202

This is the official text of 15 V.S.A. § 202, part of Vermont’s V.S.A — part of the compiled statutory law of Vermont, published by the state as "V.S.A." Browse the sections below, each linked to its official government source.

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§ 202. Penalty for desertion or nonsupport

Official statutory text

A married person who, without just cause, shall desert or willfully neglect or refuse to provide for the support and maintenance of the person's spouse and children, leaving them in destitute or necessitous circumstances or a parent who, without lawful excuse, shall desert or willfully neglect or refuse to provide for the support and maintenance of the child shall be imprisoned not more than two years or fined not more than $300.00, or both. Should a fine be imposed, the court may order the same to be paid in whole or in part to the needy spouse or to the guardian, custodian, or trustee of the child. The Office of Child Support attorneys, in addition to any other duly authorized person, may prosecute cases under this section in Vermont Superior Court.

Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site

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About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the Open US Law dataset (Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine (Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.