Can Parents Force a 16 Year Old to Pay Rent

My question involves juvenile law in the State of: Florida

My boyfriends 16 and just got his first job which he is still in high school. He got a job through a family friend. His first paycheck was a decent amount but as soon as his father saw how much he made he insisted that he start paying rent on top of car insurance and buying his own clothes. His car insurance is $150 a month and then they're making him pay $40 a week for rent. Which adds up to $360. Neither of his parents have a job but his father receives income for other reasons. Which they use that money to go off. There's two other paying adults within the household. Whenever he told his dad he wasn't gonna pay he threatened to raise the rent and then told him he couldn't do anything because he wasn't empancipated. Is this legal ? Is there anything my boyfriend can do ? Its ridiculous for him to live in this environment.

Is this legal ? Yes.

Is there anything my boyfriend can do ? No.

How is this necessarily legal.? In the state of Florida you're supposed to provide necessities for your child. Plus with him having school there isn't even a guarantee he'll be making that much a month anyways.

Show me the law that says parents are required to pay for everything and that minors who are earning their own money cannot be required to contribute.

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Quoting Miscellaneousmedley

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How is this necessarily legal.? In the state of Florida you're supposed to provide necessities for your child.

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Yes, Florida law, like the law of every state, requires that a parent support his/her minor children. But it is also true in Florida (and nearly every other state) that there is a flip side to this rule: the earnings of the minor child legally belong to the parents. As a Florida appeals court explains:

At that time, however, the law in Florida had long been established that parents are entitled to both the services and earnings of their children. See Youngblood v. Taylor, 89 So.2d 503 (Fla.1956); Wilkie v. Roberts, 91 Fla. 1064, 109 So. 225, 227 (1926) (“The father's right to the custody, companionship, services, and earnings of his minor child are valuable rights, constituting a species of property in the father, a wrongful injury to which by a third person will support an action in favor of the father.”); Jackson v. Citizens' Bank & Trust Co., 53 Fla. 265, 44 So. 516 (1907); 25 Fla. Jur.2d Family Law § 81 (1992); 59 Am.Jur.2d Parent and Child § 37 (1987); Florida Guardianship Practice § 22.7 (3d ed.1998). Accordingly, a parent may require a minor child's services at home or in the parent's business, and the parent may allow the child to work for others. Id. The earnings of a minor, thus, do not belong to the minor; they are the property of the parents, and parents may give up all or part of this entitlement.

Herig v. Akerman, Senterfitt & Edison, P.A., 741 So. 2d 591, 593 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1999). The court went on to then describe one exception to this rule in Florida in which the earnings of minors who are professional performers or athletes and who enter into court approved contracts for their artistic or athletic professions are the earnings of the minor and not his/her parents. Florida Statutes (F.S.) section 743.08.

Thus, the bottom line in Florida is that your boyfriends father is legally entitled to ALL your boyfriends earnings unless your boyfriend is a professional performer or athlete who meets the requirements of F.S. § 743.08. As the father could simply take your boyfriend’s earnings, the father is not violating any right of your boyfriend by taking the earnings through charging “rent.”

If his parents wanted to they could take all if his pay check. They are providing the things they have to under the law. His parents pay much more for the roof over his head, utilities, food, etc that he makes.

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Quoting Miscellaneousmedley

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My question involves juvenile law in the State of: Florida

My boyfriends 16 and just got his first job which he is still in high school. He got a job through a family friend. His first paycheck was a decent amount but as soon as his father saw how much he made he insisted that he start paying rent on top of car insurance and buying his own clothes. His car insurance is $150 a month and then they're making him pay $40 a week for rent. Which adds up to $360. Neither of his parents have a job but his father receives income for other reasons. Which they use that money to go off. There's two other paying adults within the household. Whenever he told his dad he wasn't gonna pay he threatened to raise the rent and then told him he couldn't do anything because he wasn't empancipated. Is this legal ? Is there anything my boyfriend can do ? Its ridiculous for him to live in this environment.

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I suggest you try out your calculations: 4x$40=$160. If you throw in the insurance $160+$150=$310 all in. Might this be unreasonable? Sure, it might be. Is it illegal? No, it's not. Car insurance is not a given and does not have to be provided at all. As to the "rent"; if the boy has income perhaps, based on household needs, it may even be reasonable. In any event the parents can seize all of it if they choose to. As I tell my teenagers (even the one in the Navy-she's a teenager for 5 more months <sigh>) "you are not a free agent. You are a part of this family and you have obligations to it."