What Does it Mean for a Minor to be Managing His Own Financial Affairs

My question involves juvenile law in the State of: New Mexico

When the law says:
"32A-21-4. Emancipation by declaration.

Any person sixteen years of age or older may be declared an emancipated minor for one or more of the purposes enumerated in the Emancipation of Minors Act [32A-21-1 NMSA 1978] if he is willingly living separate and apart from his parents, guardian or custodian, is managing his own financial affairs and the court finds it in the minor's best interest."

What is meant by " managing his own financial affairs "? Our 16 1/2 year old son wants emancipation and we the parents support it believing it is in his best interest. We have offered to extend financial support until he is 18 to cover basic food and shelter expenses. Would this be possible given this clause? He has not moved out because we do not want him to without the emancipation but all agree it would be in his best interest and he want to.

Thanks

well, the fact he is living with you already shoots it in the foot.

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if he is willingly living separate and apart from his parents, guardian or custodian,

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then your assistance does in fact defeat the requirement of him managing his own financial affairs. He must be self supporting is what the statement means.



so, the fact is he has to move out without the emancipation in place and he has to be supporting himself while on his own. Until he meets those criteria, he is not eligible for emancipation.

If you are providing financial support to cover basic food and shelter, in what way would he be managing his own financial affairs?

why do you believe that it would be in your son's best interest to be emancipated?

So he earns enough to independently provide himself with about $2k per month for food, clothing, shelter and health insurance? Has he been at this job for 3 or 4 years to prove to a court there is little likelihood of him becoming a burden on the state?

"Managing his own financial affairs" means that the minor has legitimate sources of income and is managing his finances -- balancing his accounts, paying bills on time, etc. The New Mexico Supreme Court has held that a minor can satisfy that requirement even when receiving support from a third party.

Fair enough but it does state, several times, that to grant emancipation the minor must be living outside of the parents home and shall have displayed financial independence.


But but an even greater hurdle to jump over is the courts must determine emancipation is in the best interest of the minor. Given the statements by the op one has to wonder what conditions are such that allowing a child to leave the family home and be emancipated whilst the parents are willing to continue supporting him is actually is in the best interest of the minor.

I found this case http://www.nmcompcomm.us/nmcases/nms...s/SC32,695.pdf , JHETTE DIAMOND, Petitioner-Petitioner, v. ADRIENNE DIAMOND, Respondent-Respondent and it appears as though this is a very hot issues with laws and interpretations which vary by state.

In New Mexico it appears as though as long as the child is living on their own, the source of the funds coming from a parent can be viewed as secondary. The child is responsible for handling the decisions of how to handle the money which can almost be viewed as child support for a minor.

In our case our son would move out on his own prior to applying for emancipation. I would give him a fixed amount of funds per month as is common in our society as a child moves out of the home to often get support in the early years from the parent. Ideally it is to cover rent, foods, basic clothing, school related expenses. What he does with them and how he spends them would be 100% up to him.

Our child was adopted at a young age but it was never a good fit situation. His priorities are so out of line with his parents and always have been. We are not able to support him in ways that are in line with our values and beliefs and this has caused immense challenges which we all feel are holding him back from living life in a way which best supports him in his view.

This is a challenging situation from our (parents) perspective but we personally have to look at what feel may be best for him and that is where our support for this comes from.

OP, the Diamond decision was very, very different from yours but you are correct with your interpretation nonetheless.

now, when the time comes, your son will have to convince the court it is in his best interest to be emancipated.

but why not do this:

forget about the emancipation. You can remain his guardian yet you can allow him to live elsewhere. You intend to actually support him anyway so in the end, what really is the difference?

Oh, and that is a nice find, especially since Mr. Knowitall has already provided a link to it.