Emancipated minors can decide to move out and live on their own.
U.S. laws allow a minor to become emancipated and be free from any parental control, financially or otherwise. In some cases, a minor can be considered emancipated automatically; in others he can require emancipation in a court of justice. Either way, the minor agrees to the responsibilities that emancipation implies. Because emancipation means no longer having an adult to relay on for help or support a minor should think very carefully about taking this step.
Automatic Emancipation
A minor is automatically emancipated under the law when she reaches a certain age, as defined by the law in the state were he resides. Usually an individual is considered an adult at the age of 18, but there are states where the age is 19 (like Alabama and Nebraska) or even 21 (such as Mississippi). A minor can also be considered emancipated when he joins the armed forces, in which case he needs parental consent. Enlistment in the armed forces requires a minor to be a certain age; in Massachusetts, for example, she has to be 17 to be approved for recruiting. Once enlisted, the minor can decide on certain medical treatment or interventions without parental consent.
Marriage
Getting married is another way to become automatically emancipated; however, parents' consent is needed for a minor to marry. The minimum legal age to marry with parental consent is usually 16, but some states may require minors to be 17 (as in Nebraska) or 18 (like Kentucky), while others consider legal the age of 15 (such as Hawaii and Missouri) or even 14 for males like (Massachusetts and New Hampshire) and 13 (in New Hampshire) or 12 (in Massachusetts) for females. When a minor gets married, he is declared emancipated, but he also gets all the responsibilities that married adults have: caring for his partner, giving support and sharing financial debts, caring for a baby and making decisions with his spouse about their life together.
Court-Granted Emancipation
To obtain emancipated status by court decision, a minor has to satisfy certain conditions: she must be at a minimum of age (at least 14 years old in California, and 16 years old in Connecticut), she must be employed and capable to manage his own money, she must live apart from her parents, she must have her parents' consent to move out and to have full control of her own life and she must prove that emancipation is good for her. If all these conditions are satisfied, the minor needs to complete certain forms and file them with a court of law. She also needs to provide documents that sustain her petition for emancipation, like a valid address and proof of legal income.
Alternatives to Emancipation
Legal emancipation is an important decision to make and shouldn't be taken lightly because it involves responsibilities that a minor might not be ready to handle. As good as it sounds to be independent, a minor needs to weigh all the aspects of being the only one to decide on his actions and deal with the consequences. Besides getting an emancipation court decision, he may consider family counseling with his parents, moving with close relatives temporarily, seeking assistance with agencies that handle family and minors' issues or getting the parents to approve of his temporary moving out until he has reached a decision.
Tags: parental consent, responsibilities that, armed forces, automatically emancipated, considered emancipated