Childhood/Teen Emancipation

I hear so many teens complain about how they are "so ready to move out" or wish they were emancipated.

I was emancipated from my parents. I stood before a judge and have official court papers.

Whenever I speak to another adult about it, they get highly offended. They say things like, "how could you be so disrespectful to your parents?" or give me very distraught glares.

In Illinois, my judge said he had done only a few emancipation in his career and only accepted one. He also didn't think Illinois had seen one in more than a decade. We had to go through loops jump over fences to get it done. It was the most tiring process ever with rules and regulations that I thought were simply impossible. For example, one rule was you could not be living with a parent when filing for emancipation. That was a difficult one to over come.

Anyway; do you believe it is disrespectful for parents? Do you see it as nessecary and under what circumstances? Should it be made easier to achieve?

I know you are emancipated through marriage and when you reach 18, so I am talking about circumstances other than those two.

I searched and didn't see this topic before and I thought it might be interesting to hear other's opinions. We have such a diverse age group here.

I think it completely depends on the situation. I'd guess that the majority of teens who complain about being 'so ready to move out' couldn't actually back that up with a decent reason beyond their parents driving them insane. That being said, I think that if someone is actually going to go as far as getting emancipated, they probably have a good reason and if they don't, the judge would put a stop to it. I don't think it's about being disrespectful, that seems like quite an old-fashioned view to me.

It'd be interesting to know what people think are the boundaries of a good reason, though. I'm unsure myself.

Fun fact; in my state, if both parents agree to it- they don't even need a good reason. The judge will ask the parents if they agree or disagree. If they agree, you don't have to go into depth as to why. If the judge asks for a reason, if both say yes, you don't have to provide proof of a reason either.

That could be very detrimental to kids who think being emacipated could be fun. If their parents agree and they get it, there is no turning back. Good reason and proof in any case, whether parents agree or not, should be nessecary.

My mother was mentally unfit and too irresponsible.

^ I completely agree that that's not a good idea on the agreement front.

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What about if a 17 year old has a baby? They become a mother themself, should they be emancipated so that they can lead an adult life looking after their child?

For something like that, it definitely should be up to a judge to decide. A lot of 17 year olds think they are mature and stable enough to mother a child (I've got at least five in my town currently). If it's in the best interest of the child, and the children can provide solid proof (employment records, paychecks, high school records) and not "plans" ("I plan to move in with the dad, and hopefully he'll have a job by then") that they can raise a child, I think it should be okay with social worker visits.

If everything is well and good, then it should be possible.

Yeah, I agree. It's kind of like that with marriage as well, though. I mean, anyone can get married, why should that constitute being emancipated?

Agreed. Some people get married so young and do not consider what happens when you're no longer legally bound to your parents. The parents don't have to help you with money, schooling, financial aid, housing, insurance, anything. For someone who is 17, when most good jobs hire at 18, taking care of yourself financially is a difficult task. It would be emotionally draining too.

Yeah, I completely agree. That being said, its not like all people who are 18 are mature enough to be emancipated either.

I guess I was empancipated but the laws are very different here. Since I was 16, there was no court procedure or anything since I was old enough to have a house. I guess if it's the best thing for that person then go for it. It is still quite painful to think about that time since...hell was breaking loose. I suppose it is a sort of better system but sort of not...legally, no body had to house me and as a result I spent six months homeless before getting a flat. And it was one of the worst times of my life...where I slept didn't make much difference. Everything was unreal and sad. Everyone else in that homeless shelter had given up and they were only a few years older than me. So, to be dreaming of uni...it was so far away and seemed growingly impossible that I stopped going to school most days. It didn't seem to matter and all I was concerned about was ending it.

I'm not saying that all experiences are like mine or whatever. What I am saying is that it really has to be very regulated.

I think it depends on the circumstances and I think those circumstances have to be pretty dire. I don't consider it disrespectful because I believe those situations would need to be dire. (And it doesn't necessarily mean you hate your parents or anything, just that you couldn't be living with them like that.)

What example situations would be considered dire?

Off the top of my head I can think of abuse, exploitation, an unhealthy home environment.

I have a friend who wants to move out just because she can't stand her mom's rules. She's a 17 year old girl who stays out until 5am and gets mad when she is punished for it. In situations like that, teen emancipation is ridiculous. She has no idea how to take care of herself and just wants to move out of spite.

The Rumor:

^ I completely agree that that's not a good idea on the agreement front.

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What about if a 17 year old has a baby? They become a mother themself, should they be emancipated so that they can lead an adult life looking after their child?

I think if you have a dependent (ie, child) in the US, you are emancipated from your parents because you can legally enter into contracts without their consent. I had a mutual friend in high school who had a baby and moved in with the father, and when her mother called the police, they had no legal grounds to arrest her or make her come home. In my state, you can also move out at 17, I'm not sure how old she was though, so maybe that was why.

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I moved in with my boyfriend's family when I was 17, much against my mother's will initially. I was still home a lot because my mom was a single mother who worked full-time and I babysat, but we just had a lot of resentment towards each other we couldn't deal with, beyond the normal teen and mother banter you expect. She wasn't abusive and I was taken care of, it was just better for both of us. I don't think the circumstances necessarily need to be "dire" for a teenager to be emancipated. I moved out to prevent the circumstances from becoming dire, and I'm glad I did.

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I also think it's important to note that emancipation isn't only used when someone wants to be allowed to move out. Just because you want to be emancipated doesn't mean you plan on leaving your parents, but you can be emancipated over medical decisions and financial decisions as well.

Is there such a thing as partial emancipation? If you sought emancipation for the purposes of making a medical decisions for example, could you seek to only be emancipated in that way? Google, here I come.

@ Kurtni
I know when I was emancipated, there was no partial. The law stated that I couldn't live with either parent. I had to secretly move out so the lawyer could even work on the papers.

obscene.:

@ Kurtni
I know when I was emancipated, there was no partial. The law stated that I couldn't live with either parent. I had to secretly move out so the lawyer could even work on the papers.

That's kind of demented, because you'd have to break one law (residing somewhere against your parents will as a minor) to fulfill the requirements of another.

Actually when I was researching this earlier, I did find various US state laws that allow for partial emancipation, where a child is stil entitled to financial support from a parent. The states I found that allow it are Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland and Indiana. They weren't solid sources though (they were like... lawyer/law school forums or something) so I'm looking for something better that explains when something like that is used.

Quote

Partial or Complete Emancipation
The court in Maryland has indicated court said that emancipation can be either partial or complete. “Complete” means the parents are no longer legally responsible for the child. Partial emancipation means that child is emancipated only for:

for a certain period of time or
for some special purpose (such as the right to earn and spend his/her own wages) or
from a part of a parent's rights (such as the right to make decisions about a pregnancy).

http://www.peoples-law.org/children/emancipation/emancipation%20home.htm

I think Kurtni's right about having the baby thing. My mom was 'emancipated' when she married my dad three months before I was born, but she would have been 'emancipated' when she had me three months later, she said. (Not that it mattered--she continued living with her parents and they continued to care for her/me.)

@ of dru's being.
My sister was "emancipated" when she had a baby at 16 as well.

@ Kurtni
I didn't have too much contact with my lawyer, so maybe she didn't feel the need to mention partial emancipation to me since we were going for full.

hmmm... I think emancipation really depends on the situation. My state does not allow for emancipation for any reason, however that is proving to be a large difficulty for me. I wish that I could, because I will be graduating from high school in May, at 16 years of age, and am being limited on what college I am allowed to go to, because A) my mother does not want me to move out yet and B) legally, I can only move out if I am residing with a person whom my mother willingly gives a power of attorney to. Certain colleges have said that they would deny my request of on-campus housing, due to the liability of my young age.

Personally, I don't see anything wrong with it. Some children are just mature. I'm almost 17 and I just want to be on my own, I want to be independent, it doesn't even have anything to do with freedom. I just want to simply be. And I love my family very much. If I had the means to, I would probably ask to be emancipated, yes. But only because I know where I would go/where I'm going once I turn 18, and that I'm going to be ok, not in an abusive household or anything terrible like that.
Every situation and every person is different, so I can't say if I agree with it or not. This is really just me and my own situation, and what I would like to do, myself. I think if the person genuinely feels they are ready, and they really are, or if their parents aren't fit to be around them, they should be allowed to. If the kid is just being a selfish and mad-at-the-world brat, then no.