Emancipation at 16

tbmb

New Member
Jurisdiction
North Carolina
I'm 16 almost 17 and live with both of my parents in the state of North Carolina. I am a junior in high school and I do not have a job yet but I recently applied to at least 5 different places. There are a few reasons I want to be emancipated... Me and my mother have never had a really good relationship. She invades my privacy every chance she gets. She takes things out of my room and hides them in her room so I can't find them. I recently found a phone book in her room that I lost two years ago with all of my friends numbers in it. My grandmother got me a Ipod touch a few years ago and my mom wanted to take it from me one night but I refused to give it to her so she jumped on me and began hitting me and I did all I could to get away and go into another room. She later called the police on me for "attacking her". She has called the police on me multiple times for the same reason but each time she is the one who jumps on me first. I missed one day of school and she came into my room and told me I just needed to drop out because I would fail anyways. When I'm around her it's constant arguing. She keeps me from seeing my boyfriend of almost one year. She threatened to call the police on him and his family if I see him. Once, my mom got mad at me for keeping my door shut so she took the door off the hinges and started throwing everything that was on and in my dressers onto the floor. She took a flag I had on my wall and I haven't seen it since. I was arrested in April and my mom told me she hopes I get sent to prison but instead I start probation sometime soon after my court date. My father is an alcoholic. He drinks every night but weekends are the worst. When he's drunk he verbally abuses me by calling me a "Redneck- Nigger", "whore", "bitch", "nasty" etc... I have two brothers. One of which is 14 years of age and the other is 5. My parents treat them perfectly but I'm the "black sheep" in the family. My self-esteem is low because of the name calling and everyone in this house constantly bringing me down. If I qualify for emancipation I have spoken with my grandmother and we agreed that I can live with her and my grandfather. If emancipated I plan on switching schools and graduating high school in 2017. Is there any way I can go about getting emancipated without court order? and do I qualify for emancipation?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
You do not qualify for emancipation. You cannot get emancipated without a court order. Now, if you can get your parents permission to live with Granny you can, but that's dependent on your parents.
 
what are some circumstances that qualify for emancipation?

Your problem is you are on probation.
Even if you could otherwise qualify for emancipation, being on probation would disqualify you.
But, you can forget emancipation, and NOT because you are on probation.
Emancipation is rare.
It happens for fewer than 1% of the kids who seek to be emancipated.
One of the criteria is you have been gainfully employed and taking care of yourself, in your own apartment for at least a year, maybe 18 months.
You're doing well in school, and your record is clean.

But, forget any talk of emancipation because by the time you were eligible for emancipation, you'd be emancipated because you'd have reached the age of majority, 18 years of age.

I suggest you keep your head up, do well in school, get yourself off of probation, and get ready to be an adult.
 
To be emancipated you must be fully self-supporting, including providing your own housing. You must be making better than average grades if you are in school and have a clean legal record. If you have been arrested, you aren't going to qualify. A juvenile delinquent needs more parental supervision, not less.

Mom can take anything away from you she does not wish for you to have. She can remove the door from your room. She can also ban you from dating. Frankly kid, if you are sneaking around to see a boyfriend she has forbidden you to have, getting arrested, skipping school, and fighting with her when she takes away things she does not approve of you having, you are not even in the ballpark for emancipation and I can understand why your mother is revoking privileges and getting on your case.
 
Emancipation is not and never was intended to be the means for a minor to leave home, no matter how bad the conditions. It was and is intended to be a means to provide legal protections to those minor who, through circumstances beyond their control, found themselves living alone.

Thus about the only situation I can think of off the top of my head that would qualify a minor for emancipation would be, "My parents were both killed in a car crash and I need to be emancipated so I can have the light bill and the rent put into my name and I can sign contracts and take care of my younger siblings". And even that wouldn't do it if you had grandparents or aunts and uncles or an older sibling who had already reached their majority standing by ready to take guardianship of you.
 
Back
Top