Emancipation or Other Options in Ohio
My question involves emancipation laws for the State of: Ohio
I may not have the choice of emancipation in Ohio, I am unsure of that. However, in this situation I need whatever advice I can get.
I am a seventeen year old female who lives with her mother. My mother and father are seperated, and I have not spoken to my father at all until very recently. My mother literally denies him his visitation rights, claims he 'abandoned me', and refuses to let me have any contact with him. He emailed me awhile ago and I finally have been talking to him without her knowledge. I want to be emancipated from my mother, or at the very least not live with her. I don't want to live with my father either, but on my own. I can support myself easily enough. I would not want to leave unless the conditions at home were bad.
My mother has bi-polar and is unmedicated for it. She is prone to violent mood swings, and she neglects taking care of me. She doesn't work, clean, cook, or even provide me with the smallest amount of money. My grandmother buys my clothes and schools supplies, and whatever I need. She cleans the house whenever she can. The house is a mess, no matter how many times I clean as well. I take care of everything in the house, including dishes, cooking, etc. We have so many cats though that it is hard to keep everything clean. They eat out of the dishes and steal food off our plates. They poop and pee everywhere. My mom doesn't want to get rid of them because they are her pets. She also flicks her cigarette butts everywhere, leaves dirty dishes and clothes laying everywhere. She never cleans or fixes food, and she neglects to buy even the necesseties, such as toilet paper.
I have a home, a nice one, where I can go to and live, paying a small fee for rent. I need to know if there is any way I can get emancipated on my own, or if I will have to ask my father to sign the papers, or if I will even need my mother's signature. The last threads I read were from 2004-2005, and it was stated that Ohio had no emancipation law. I was wondering if it had changed in recent years any. If at any way possible, I do not want either of my parents to have custody of me, as I do not know one of them and the other is...well, my mother. Can you give me any advice, even if I cannot get emancipated at this time? I have ten months before I'm eighteen, but the circumstances are so bad that I cannot wait that long to leave if I can leave.
Re: Emancipation or Help - Ohio Laws
In Ohio, there are only two possible ways for a minor to be emancipated; one is through lawful marriage, and the other is by enlistment in the active armed forces. For either you would need the permission of BOTH parents and in some parts of Ohio, the permission of a judge as well. In any case, you cannot (in any state) be emancipated from only one parent; you either are or you aren't. What's more, emancipation (in those states which permits it) requires that you be self supporting - ENTIRELY. That means not paying a small fee for rent - it means paying the market rate for rent, as well as your utilities, food, clothing, transportation, insurance, medical care, etc.
If you have the permission of BOTH parents, then you can move out. If you do not, then you stay where you are. As long as you are even one minute under 18, you live where your parents say you live.
Re: Emancipation or Help - Ohio Laws
Quote:
I may not have the choice of emancipation in Ohio, I am unsure of that.
You do not. Ohio has no statutory provisions by which you may petition for emancipation. You can become emancipated through legal marriage or military service, both of which require parental consent, and if either terminates before you reach the age of majority, your emancipated status is revoked.
Quote:
She doesn't work, clean, cook
If you think you're ready to support yourself, there's no reason you cannot get a job or cook or clean.
Quote:
or even provide me with the smallest amount of money.
She is not obligated to do so. At 17, you're old enough to seek employment.
Quote:
I need to know if there is any way I can get emancipated on my own, or if I will have to ask my father to sign the papers, or if I will even need my mother's signature.
Unless your parents share legal custody - and it appears they don't - your father gets no say, and even if he did, your mother would still need to consent.
Quote:
I have ten months before I'm eighteen, but the circumstances are so bad that I cannot wait that long to leave if I can leave.
Legally, you may not leave until the age of 18.
Re: Emancipation or Help - Ohio Laws
So, wait a second. You're saying that she doesn't have to buy food or clothing for her own children? It's not just me I'm talking about, and perhaps you should read the entirety of my message before giving advice which, I may add, doesn't help at all. I do clean, cook, and take care of the household. It's in a deplorable state, but I cannot pay the bills because she buys absurd things with whatever money I do make. She also has a younger child to take care of, my half brother. Before you offer any advice, perhaps you should have read the entirety of my message. Thank you, gentlemen or ladies, but I think I will be seeking more advice from another source, perhaps a counselor or attorney. Even if I cannot be emancipated, I do want out of this place. Whether you consider leaving anyone in a mentally and physically abusive place right or not, I hope you can sleep with yourselves at night.
Re: Emancipation or Help - Ohio Laws
Quote:
Quoting
ravenslie
So, wait a second. You're saying that she doesn't have to buy food or clothing for her own children? It's not just me I'm talking about, and perhaps you should read the entirety of my message before giving advice which, I may add, doesn't help at all. I do clean, cook, and take care of the household. It's in a deplorable state, but I cannot pay the bills because she buys absurd things with whatever money I do make. She also has a younger child to take care of, my half brother. Before you offer any advice, perhaps you should have read the entirety of my message. Thank you, gentlemen or ladies, but I think I will be seeking more advice from another source, perhaps a counselor or attorney. Even if I cannot be emancipated, I do want out of this place. Whether you consider leaving anyone in a mentally and physically abusive place right or not, I hope you can sleep with yourselves at night.
Lighten up.
We don't make the laws. You asked what they were. If you don't like the answer, write your congressman.
In the meantime, if you are being abused, tell your school counselor and/or call child protective services.
Re: Emancipation or Help - Ohio Laws
Quote:
Quoting
ravenslie
So, wait a second. You're saying that she doesn't have to buy food or clothing for her own children? It's not just me I'm talking about, and perhaps you should read the entirety of my message before giving advice which, I may add, doesn't help at all. I do clean, cook, and take care of the household. It's in a deplorable state, but I cannot pay the bills because she buys absurd things with whatever money I do make. She also has a younger child to take care of, my half brother. Before you offer any advice, perhaps you should have read the entirety of my message. Thank you, gentlemen or ladies, but I think I will be seeking more advice from another source, perhaps a counselor or attorney. Even if I cannot be emancipated, I do want out of this place. Whether you consider leaving anyone in a mentally and physically abusive place right or not, I hope you can sleep with yourselves at night.
Did you have a visit from the Drama Llama this evening?
Re: Emancipation or Help - Ohio Laws
I read every word of your message. Do you think that will make the laws any different?
I sleep with myself just fine. I neither make the laws nor vote on their passage, and whether I agree with your position or not will not have the slightest effect of what the laws say. The laws say that a minor in Ohio cannot be emancipated outside of legal marriage or enlistment in the active armed forces, and that you cannot move out without parental permission until you are 18. All the oh-you-poor-babies in the world will not change that.
Re: Emancipation or Help - Ohio Laws
Quote:
Quoting
ravenslie
I hope you can sleep with yourselves at night.
Cry moar, emo kid.
I read every word, and I sleep fine, thank you.
Read for comprehension: No emancipation in Ohio, and if you think you're ready to live on your own Right Now, then you can scoot off and get a job, because that's what you need to do to support yourself. You can visit every attorney in the Great State of Ohio, the answer will remain unchanged. Law says No.
Re: Emancipation or Help - Ohio Laws
Whoa! I dozed off. What'd I miss?
Re: Emancipation or Help - Ohio Laws
Just another whining teenager who thinks the laws shouldn't apply to them because they're so special and their situation so unique. Nothing we don't see every day.