Emancipation For A 17-Year-Old

Hi I am 19 years old and live in Virginia. My girlfriend is 17 and lives in northern VA. She has been wanting to be emancipated for awhile. What I wanted some insight on was if you guys thought she would be eligible given her situation. She lives with her original mom and her step dad. Her step dad has had a history of abuse towards her which has included hitting and beating her with a closed fist, hard enough to leave bruises. He has not hit her in over a month now but she still feels like her house is not a safe environment for her to be in. With her being the oldest of 4 children, she is often neglected and her parents are very pushed financially. She wants to become emancipated and wants to live with a relative who also lives in virginia. I wanted to know if she could still be emanicpated without having physical proof of being hit or beaten and if she could perhaps use her parents financial difficulties to her advantage in court to help her case. I would appreciate any insight on this scenario.

Edit: Her parents have agreed to let her be emancipated and live with her uncle in VA if that helps at all...

Thanks,

Matt

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Quoting mtyger

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Hi I am 19 years old and live in Virginia. My girlfriend is 17 and lives in northern VA. She has been wanting to be emancipated for awhile. What I wanted some insight on was if you guys thought she would be eligible given her situation. She lives with her original mom and her step dad. Her step dad has had a history of abuse towards her which has included hitting and beating her with a closed fist, hard enough to leave bruises. He has not hit her in over a month now but she still feels like her house is not a safe environment for her to be in. With her being the oldest of 4 children, she is often neglected and her parents are very pushed financially. She wants to become emancipated and wants to live with a relative who also lives in virginia. I wanted to know if she could still be emanicpated without having physical proof of being hit or beaten and if she could perhaps use her parents financial difficulties to her advantage in court to help her case. I would appreciate any insight on this scenario.

Edit: Her parents have agreed to let her be emancipated and live with her uncle in VA if that helps at all...

Thanks,

Matt

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That is not emancipation, that is a change in guardianship. If her parents agree to letting her live with her Uncle...go for it!

Where is her father, and does he know of the abuse?

Her original dad is in Texas and he was extremely abusive and she has a large scar on her chest from one of his beatings. He has a separate family and does not keep much contact with her at all. Oh and any idea how you would go about getting a change in guardianship.

The uncle would go to court and file a petition for the change.