Pregnant 17-Year-Old Wants to be Emancipated

Or, that's she's dependent on help from others because she's not really supporting herself, just making token contributions. While the OP did not indicate any specifics (my post was intended as an illustration) given her actual income I like my scenario much better in terms of likelihood.

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Quoting llworking

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$50.00 a week might not be "token" rent here in Indiana. It would be on the low end, but it could be real rent.

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Realistically speaking, no, it couldn't. There is no realistic chance that a judge is going to find a claim by somebody that a plan to support herself and a baby on less than $800 per month plus SNAP constitutes her having "sufficient money for the child's own support", nor that her paying $50 per month to live with friends to constitutes "an acceptable plan for independent living". She's not Blanche Dubois -- the court is not going to be impressed by a claim that she plans to rely on the charity of others, in the event that her friends tell her to move out.

As of 2009, reasonable self-sufficiency figures for Indiana were projected by the Indiana Institute for Working Families to be $1,564 for an adult, and $2,906 for an adult living with one preschooler -- even if you set rent at $50 and ignore inflation, $800 per month still falls short, even before consideration of the child. The latter figure can be lowered if the parent isn't employed, as there would be no child care expense, but that bites the self-sufficiency argument in the posterior for other reasons.

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Quoting cbg

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Or, that's she's dependent on help from others because she's not really supporting herself, just making token contributions. While the OP did not indicate any specifics (my post was intended as an illustration) given her actual income I like my scenario much better in terms of likelihood.

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I would too if the scenario was happening in MA. However, its not, its happening in Indiana where the cost of living is much lower than MA.

Read Mr. K.'s post directly above yours.

For better or WORSE there is at least one way to get emancipated at 17 in her state wo a court order...and it may make her plight worse......

Drew, if you don't stop telling minors to go out and get married so they can be emancipated I am going to reach through the computer screen and strangle you. Do you really think that's appropriate?

Since even you agree it's likely to cause more problems why did you bring it up in the first place?

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Quoting Mr. Knowitall

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Realistically speaking, no, it couldn't. There is no realistic chance that a judge is going to find a claim by somebody that a plan to support herself and a baby on less than $800 per month plus SNAP constitutes her having "sufficient money for the child's own support", nor that her paying $50 per month to live with friends to constitutes "an acceptable plan for independent living". She's not Blanche Dubois -- the court is not going to be impressed by a claim that she plans to rely on the charity of others, in the event that her friends tell her to move out.

As of 2009, reasonable self-sufficiency figures for Indiana were projected by the Indiana Institute for Working Families to be $1,564 for an adult, and $2,906 for an adult living with one preschooler -- even if you set rent at $50 and ignore inflation, $800 per month still falls short, even before consideration of the child. The latter figure can be lowered if the parent isn't employed, as there would be no child care expense, but that bites the self-sufficiency argument in the posterior for other reasons.

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That is high. I suppose if you included paying for health insurance and daycare expenses in those figures I might agree, but otherwise I do not. I know many, many families of 4 or more who live on less than that...and single parents with children who live on less than the figure for a single. Now admittedly their incomes get supplemented by large tax refunds annually, and some of them may get some limited state assistance, but still, those numbers are high.