What it means
Chapter 415's reporting duty has teeth on both ends. Knowingly and willfully failing to report known or suspected abuse, neglect, or exploitation of a vulnerable adult — or preventing someone else from reporting — is a second-degree misdemeanor.
The section protects the system's integrity in the other direction too: knowingly and willfully making a false report, or advising another person to make one, is a third-degree felony. Willfully disclosing confidential hotline-record information, or refusing lawful access to records, is a second-degree misdemeanor. Good-faith reporters are untouched — their immunity sits in §415.1036.
- Knowing, willful failure to report — or preventing another person's report — is a second-degree misdemeanor.
- A knowingly false report, or advising someone to make one, is a third-degree felony.
- Willful disclosure of confidential report information is a second-degree misdemeanor.
- Reports determined false are referred to law enforcement for investigation.
How it plays out
The people this section reaches are mostly professionals — bankers, nurses, facility staff — who saw something and stayed quiet, and the occasional relative who kept another relative from calling. When families in a suspected-exploitation situation ask us about reporting, the statutory landscape is short: the duty to report likely already applies, failing it is a crime, reporting in good faith is immune, and only knowingly false reporting is punished.
Related sections
Questions people ask
