If I Am Emancipated Can I Move

My question involves juvenile law in the State of: Michigan

Ok, my best friend is 16 yrs. old going on 17 in two months. She does not like her parents at all and has started talking about leaving just like some friends of ours have and from what I understand she is going about this all wrong. She recently has aquired a boyfriend who is 18-19 yrs. old and lives in Indiana she is in "love" with him and thinks with him her life will be wonderful he is also some of the reason she wants to leave. The friend that has already done this told her that all you need to do is tell your parents good bye and you can walk out, and not look back. I have talked to a Michigan State Trooper and he told me that in our state she would not be a runaway but she is technically a runaway in federal jurisdictions. I have been doing the research for her because her parents would not like the idea of her leaving they think that everything is ok and all the normal parents don't understand jazz. In my searching I have come up with the facts that she would need to petition the courts and they will do a investigation in to her reasons for leaving and would make the determination from there. My question is if she is going to miss a step in the process, also can she be emancipated in Michigan and move to Indiana or does she need to follow different steps? Thank you for your help I want to get her helped before she does something that she will regret.

She will not be emancipated, period.

She stays put until she reaches the age of majority unless her parents allow her to leave. Her "friend" is absolutely wrong.

The quick answer is that your friend is grossly mistaken as to what emancipation means.

Part of the court proceedings will be concerned with how your friend is going to support herself. You have not mentioned anything about your friend's job. Unless she is a rock star or professional athlete, the court will say no.

The minute a minor crosses state lines so that she can have sex with an adult, that adult will face federal charges under the Mann Act. The Mann Act allows penalties up to and including extended jail time.

Tell your friend that running away to live with her out of state boyfriend will put him in a very small cell for a very long time. Tell her to wait until she is 18 and she can do as she likes.

Be a good friend. Tell her about the Mann Act.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mann_Act

"I don't like my parents" isn't a valid basis for emancipation in any state.

What the state trooper, I expect, was trying to explain is that in Michigan you cannot be taken to juvenile court after the age of 17 so, if you run away, although you won't be emancipated the police are apt to decline to become involved. They have no basis to arrest the minor and they cannot make the minor stay at home. However, a runaway 17-year-old is not emancipated - they're still a minor.

The Mann Act states,

Quote:

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Quoting 18 USC Sec. 2421

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Whoever knowingly transports any individual in interstate or foreign commerce, or in any Territory or Possession of the United States, with intent that such individual engage in prostitution, or in any sexual activity for which any person can be charged with a criminal offense, or attempts to do so, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both.

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Assuming that a federal prosecutor were interested in this case, which seems to me to be a bit of a stretch based upon the facts that have been shared so far, if the minor shows up at her boyfriend's door and announces, "I've run away and I want to stay with you," that's not a violation.

Running away to Ohio would be interesting in another way: You can be taken to juvenile court as a runaway in Ohio, right up to your 18th birthday, so Ohio could potentially pick up the minor and, if she refused to return home, put her in juvenile detention.

Thank you very much. I am trying to get her to change her mind, and I am slowly getting there. Thank you again for your help