Word of the Month for April 2019: Emancipated Minor

Ah, spring.  A time of renewal.  A time to think about new possibilities and resolve old conflicts and that, as it turns out, is why a number of people come to our law library - to resolve conflicts (real or imagined).

Take, for example the couple that came in the other day.  Seems they were parents of a resourceful child of 12 years of age.  Seems Child had designed, developed, marketed, and was now selling a device to businesses in the area.  

No joke.  The device (parents would not elaborate on what it was or what it did - other than the fact that Child was making a killing) was very profitable and was making Child (and, by extension, Child's parents) very wealthy.

The problem was that Child realized that he did not need parents anymore and was seeking to be classified as an Emancipated Minor.  What is an Emancipated Minor, you ask?  Well, according to Black's Law Dictionary, an Emancipated Minor is:

A minor who is self-supporting and independent of parental control, usu. as a result of a court order.  See Emancipation.

I suspect the problem was not so much that Child wanted to be Emancipated as much as Child didn't want parents dipping into his profits (and, subsequently, dad would have to go back to work).  Parents wanted to know what they could do to put the kibosh on the emancipation proceeding.

Uh huh.  So it comes down to parents v. kids, is it?  Already, battle lines drawn, I suggest parents take a look at:

• California Family Code (Div. 11, Part 6, Chp. 1-3, §§ 7000 et seq.)
• California Forms of Pleading and Practice (Lexis; Vol. 20, Chp. 245)
• American Jurisprudence, 2d (TR; Parent § 110)

and off parents went trying to figure out what to do next.

For as many times as I've heard about kids failing to launch (i.e leave the nest), it's funky to see the times when the parents are trying to prevent it.  Good luck with that.