Pickelsimer Ex Rel. Critcher v. Critcher

Per Curiam. There is error in the judgment dismissing this action. The judgment must be reversed on the authority of Green v. Green, ante, 147, 185 S. E., 651. In that case it is held that an infant appearing by its next friend can maintain an action against its father for support and maintenance, notwithstanding the bonds of matrimony between its father and mother have been dissolved by a judgment of divorce, and notwithstanding the infant is the illegitimate child of the father. It is said that there can be no controversy that the father is under a legal as well as a moral duty to support his infant child, and if he has the ability to do so, whether the child has property or not. There is a natural obligation to support even an illegitimate child which the law not only recognizes, but enforces. This action was heard in the Superior Court before the opinion in Green v. Green, supra, was filed. The decision in that case is fully supported by the authorities cited in the opinion by Devin, J., and is determinative of the question presented by this appeal. Reversed.