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Not by statute. Chapter 41 of the Texas Family Code, the parental liability statute, reaches property damage only. It makes a parent liable for property damage caused by a child’s negligence attributable to the parent’s failure to control, or by the willful and malicious conduct of a child between 10 and 18, and Section 41.002 caps that at $25,000 per occurrence. There is no Texas statute making a parent financially responsible for a child’s sexual assault of another child.
Families are often told the opposite, and the disappointment usually arrives late, after a year of assuming there was a claim.
That is not the end of the answer. It is the beginning of a different and usually better one, because the defendants who can actually pay are almost never the other child’s parents.
Where it happened matters more than who did it. A school, a camp, a church, a team, a daycare, a friend’s house. Each of those has its own duty, its own record of what it knew, and in most cases its own insurance.
Section 41.001 of the Family Code provides that a parent or other person who has the duty of control and reasonable discipline of a child is liable for any property damage proximately caused by the negligent conduct of the child, where that conduct is reasonably attributable to the parent’s negligent failure to exercise that duty, or by the willful and malicious conduct of a child at least 10 but under 18.
Section 41.002 limits recovery for willful and malicious conduct to actual damages not exceeding $25,000 per occurrence, plus reasonable and necessary attorney’s fees, court costs and expenses.
Property damage. That is the entire reach of the statute. It does not create a cause of action for a personal injury, and it does not create one for a sexual assault. No Texas parent should be told that a statute makes them automatically liable for a sexual assault by their child, because no such statute exists.
A negligence claim against a parent does not depend on Chapter 41. It depends on ordinary negligence principles: that the parent knew or should have known of a specific need to control this child, had the ability to do so, and failed.
Facts that make that claim real rather than theoretical are specific and documented. A prior incident the parents were told about. A safety plan from a school or a therapist that the parents did not follow. A prior report to the Department of Family and Protective Services. Knowledge that the child had access to something, or to someone, and was left alone with them anyway.
Without facts like those, a claim against a parent is an assertion that they should have known, which is not a claim.
A homeowner or renter policy almost always excludes intentional acts by an insured. So a claim framed only as the child’s intentional assault is a claim the policy will not cover, and a judgment against the child or the parents personally is usually uncollectible.
A claim framed as the parents’ own negligence is a different coverage question, because the negligence alleged is theirs and it is not intentional. Whether a particular policy responds turns on the policy language and on how the claim is pleaded, and carriers litigate it.
No one should tell a family that a homeowner policy will pay. The way the claim is framed decides whether there is any insurance in the case at all, and that decision is made at the pleading stage rather than discovered later.
Where the assault happened at a school, a district faces claims under Title IX and Section 1983 with their own demanding standards, and Texas governmental immunity limits state-law claims. A private school, camp, church or youth organization is not a governmental entity and is judged on ordinary negligence: what it knew, what its screening and supervision required, and whether it followed its own policies.
We cover school and youth-organization claims separately, on our pages about public school sexual abuse and church, camp and private school sexual abuse.
Where the child who was harmed is a minor, Section 16.001 tolls limitations while the person is younger than 18. Section 16.0045(a) provides thirty years for a claim arising from conduct violating the child sexual offense provisions it lists. A negligence claim against a parent or an institution is governed by the two year period in Section 16.003(a), subject to the minority tolling.
A family should not read the thirty year figure and conclude there is no hurry. Records, staff and memories do not last thirty years, and the negligence claim against the institution, which is where the recovery usually is, is on the shorter clock once the child reaches 18.
Texas requires a person who has cause to believe a child has been abused to report it. That obligation exists regardless of any civil claim, and it applies to professionals on a shorter timetable than to the general public. A family weighing whether to report should understand it is a legal duty and not a strategic choice.
Every statute and case linked above was read at its primary source. Texas statutes change every legislative session and case law is constantly changing.
This page is general information about Texas law. It is not legal advice about your situation, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.
Crime Victims’ Compensation does not require a defendant. The Texas Attorney General program pays for counseling, medical care and relocation for a child victim, does not require an arrest or a conviction, and is available whether or not anyone is ever sued.
The counseling record is the damages case. For a child, the harm shows up in school performance, sleep, behavior and regression long before anyone can quantify it. Contemporaneous records from a therapist and from the school are what make it provable years later.
Ask the school for its file. Incident reports, the Title IX file if there is one, safety plans, prior discipline records for the other student, and communications with both families. Request it in writing and early.
The first conversation is free, it is confidential, and it does not commit anyone to anything.
Parents in this situation are frequently told two wrong things: that the other family will automatically have to pay, and that nothing can be done because both children are minors. Neither is true.
What we can tell you quickly is whether there is an institutional defendant, whether the deadline you are working against is two years or thirty, and what should be requested before it is gone.
If you are a counselor, an advocate or a school employee asking on a family’s behalf, you are welcome to call with a general question.
There is no charge to talk, and no attorney’s fee unless there is a recovery.
Call 713-521-0059.
No statute does. Chapter 41 of the Family Code reaches property damage only, and Section 41.002 caps recovery for willful and malicious conduct at $25,000 per occurrence. There is no Texas statute imposing parental financial responsibility for a child’s sexual assault.
Possibly, on ordinary negligence, but it requires facts showing the parents knew or should have known of a specific need to control this child and failed. A prior incident they were told about, a safety plan they ignored, or a prior report are the kinds of facts that make it a real claim.
A policy almost always excludes intentional acts by an insured, so a claim framed only as the child’s intentional assault will not be covered. A claim framed as the parents’ own negligence presents a different coverage question, which carriers do litigate. How the claim is pleaded decides whether there is insurance in the case.
The institution. A school district, private school, camp, church, team or daycare that failed to supervise or that knew about a risk and did nothing. Those defendants carry insurance and individuals generally do not.
Limitations are tolled while the child is under 18 under Section 16.001. Section 16.0045(a) allows thirty years for claims arising from listed child sexual offenses. A negligence claim against a school or organization runs on the two year period in Section 16.003(a) once tolling ends, so do not treat thirty years as the operative deadline.
