In re Du Mond

The wife of the respondent.makes this application to compel him to contribute toward the support of Patricia Du Mond, a child of a former marriage of the petitioner. Having knowledge of the existence of such child at the time of the present marriage (June 18,1939), he assumed the responsibility of a stepfather under section 31 of the Children’s Court Act and section 101 of the Social Welfare Law. The child is nearly fourteen years of age.

Under common-law principles, he was under neither legal nor moral obligation to support this child, and the statutes are strictly construed in favor of the…