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Arkansas Emancipation Laws and Marriage

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  • 05-19-2007, 10:37 PM
    duke114
    Re: Arkansas Emancipation Laws Explanation
    my girlfriend is 16 years old and lives in the state of arkansas. she is wanting to move out but she is wanting to do it legally. i have read the emancipation law thing and frankly i do not understand it. there are many questions she has also. if she is emancipated does she still have to wait till she turns 18 to get married without her fathers consint. please help her father is very mentally abusive. and quite a character
  • 05-20-2007, 06:11 AM
    aaron
    Re: Arkansas Emancipation Laws Explanation
    Arkansas' "emancipation" law is called "removal of disability of a minor":
    Quote:

    Quoting Arkansas Law
    9-26-104. Removal of disability of a minor.

    (a) The circuit courts of this state or the respective judges thereof in vacation shall have the power to authorize any person who is a resident of the county and who has reached his or her sixteenth birthday to transact business in general and any particular business specified in like manner and with the same effect as if such act or thing were done by a person who had attained majority. Every act done by a person so authorized shall have the same force and effect in law and equity as if done by a person of full age.

    (b) Letters testamentary, of administration, or of guardianship may be granted to any such person, if otherwise entitled by law to have or hold such fiduciary trust, with like effect as if granted to a person over the age of majority.

    (c) The order of removal of disabilities may be made by the courts, or the respective judges thereof, in term time or in vacation.

    (d)
    (1) The circuit courts of any county in which a nonresident minor of the State of Arkansas owns real estate, or any interest in real estate, shall have jurisdiction to remove the disabilities of minority of such minor where the person has reached sixteen (16) years of age, as to such real estate. This may be done to enable the minor to sell and convey the real estate, or any interest therein, which may be owned by the minor or to mortgage or otherwise dispose of the real estate, as fully and effectually as if the minor was of full age.

    (2) The order of removal of disabilities may be made by the courts, or the respective judges thereof in term time or in vacation, and, if made in vacation, shall be entered at large upon the records of the court.
    (e) After the filing of a petition to remove the disability of a minor, the court shall fix a time and place for hearing the petition. At least twenty (20) days before the date of the hearing, notice of the filing of the petition and of the time and place of the hearing shall be given by the petitioner to any parent or legal guardian of the minor who has not joined in the petition. The notice shall be given in the same manner as is provided for summons under the Arkansas Rules of Civil Procedure.

    The statute focuses primarily on business transactions, and the marriage license statute does not indicate that emancipation would be sufficient to avoid parental consent:
    Quote:

    Quoting Arkansas Statutes, Marriage
    Section 9-11-208. License not issued to persons under age or to persons of the same sex.

    (a) No license shall be issued to persons to marry unless and until the female shall attain the age of sixteen (16) years and the male the age of seventeen (17) years and then only by written consent by a parent or guardian until the male shall have attained the age of eighteen (18) years and the female the age of eighteen (18) years.

    (b) It shall be the declared public policy of the State of Arkansas to recognize the marital union only of man and woman. No license shall be issued to persons to marry another person of the same sex and no same-sex marriage shall be recognized as entitled to the benefits of marriage.

    (c) Marriages between persons of the same sex are prohibited in this state. Any marriage entered into by persons of the same sex, where a marriage license is issued by another state or by a foreign jurisdiction, shall be void in Arkansas and any contractual or other rights granted by virtue of that license, including its termination, shall be unenforceable in the Arkansas courts.

    (d) However, nothing in this section shall prevent an employer from extending benefits to persons who are domestic partners of employees.

    9-11-209. Proof of age - Parental consent.

    (a) Any person applying for the license to marry another may introduce the parent or guardian of himself or herself or the other party, or the certificate of the parent or guardian duly attested, to prove to the satisfaction of the clerk that the parties to the marriage are of lawful age.

    (b) In case either or both of the parties to the marriage are not of lawful age, it shall be the duty of the clerk, before issuing the license to require the party applying therefor to produce satisfactory evidence of the consent and willingness of the parent or guardian of the party to the marriage which shall consist of either verbal or written consent thereto.

    (c) If there are any doubts in the mind of the clerk as to the evidence of the consent and willingness of the parent or guardian of the party applying for the license or if the clerk is in doubt as to the true age of the party so making application, the clerk may require the applicants to furnish a copy of their birth certificates as proof of lawful age or may require the parties to make affidavit to the genuineness of the consent granted or to the correctness of the ages given. The affidavit so made shall be filed in the clerk's office for public inspection.

    Contact the County Clerk's Office, which should be able to clear up whether they would issue a license to an emancipated minor without parental consent.
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