OH!! I need to have my kid get one of those!! She is still working off a $300 bill she racked up last year with her darn text messages! thanx for the tip :)
Printable View
OH!! I need to have my kid get one of those!! She is still working off a $300 bill she racked up last year with her darn text messages! thanx for the tip :)
As I said very loudly in the Sprint store yesterday as the sales rep tried to convince me to add a line to my account... any parent who adds their child to their account and gets their kid a phone with a contract and no limitations is an idiot. No child needs a phone where they can do what they please and the parent gets a surprise at the end of their billing cycle.
I'm on my second child and the third one that I've raised at least partially. No child has run up a $300 bill. Not one. Everyone has had prepaid service where I put a set amount of money on their phone per month. When it runs out, it runs outs. I told my 12 year old yesterday as I handed him his new phone (prepaid of course) these are the rules. EMERGENCY'S ONLY. No text messaging, no talking on it at home, no calling your friends... in fact, don't even give out the number. You call me, your father and your grandmother(s). Period. If he disregards the rules, he doesn't have a phone. Everything in my house that he is allowed to use comes with rules. He follows them or suffers the consequences. There is no way a child would be working off a $300 cell phone bill because there wouldn't be a $300 cell phone bill to work off and as far as I'm concerned, a child wouldn't have the ability to work off the bill unless he/she got a job outside of my home. You don't get paid for doing things around the house.
I hate to be a heart breaker but you cannot charge them for room and board. You are legally required to provide for your children. If you did not want the expense of having children, you should not have had any.
If a child does obtain work and earn an income, that money is theirs. As a parent, you can make rules as to what you will allow them to have but if they pay for something themselves with the money they earned, it is theirs and if dad wants to be a child a destroy property that does not belong to him, then the child has the right to sue dad for the money. (not going to make living there any happier but it is their choice)
A minor can sign a contract. The problem is it may not be enforceable due to their age so entities such as cell providers generally will not sign a contract with them. Some contracts with minors are enforceable but not most.Quote:
525601minutes
Don't you need to be 18 to sign a cell phone contract? I'm betting either mom or dad is 'legal' owner of the phone...
I honestly find it humorous that as a parent, some of you seem to believe that whatever the child works for and pays for themselves somehow becomes the parents property and the parent can do with what they choose.
I did choose to give my children cell phones that I paid for that did not have any limits on them. I taught my children to respect the privilage of having the phone and they knew that if there were "surprises", the freebie would be over.
I never had any surprises.
We can place limits on a person and while we may believe they are respectful of those limits, we have no true way to determine that. When we remove that actual restriction and leave the limits in place and those limits are not breached, then we know that person is trustworthy.
I found out that my children are trustworthy. Sorry some of you found out something different.
Sorry, but where I come from we teach children the value of a dollar and at 17, what it means to be an adult (because in a few months the OP may find himself looking for his own place to live). So...if you have a job, you start to pay towards your upkeep.. so, please state the law that says that legally (in your words) you cannot charge children for the costs of their upkeep.
I wanted my children... all of them. And with the exception of the 1 that is still growing up, they've all grown to be self supporting, responsible human beings. Left home by 21 and never came back. Great credit and no need for mommy or anyone else to step into their lives.
There's no reason I know of why you can't charge a minor child rent. The catch is, you can't evict them for nonpayment.
Under common law, a parent had the right to the wages earned by their minor child. I haven't tried to trace the evolution of that doctrine in modern times, but I expect it remains true in many jurisdictions.
Kind of sounds like it is OK to treat the kid like a slave since you can take all of their earnings.
I found some support as to Aarons statement concerning common law but;
I believe Gary Coleman would tend to differ on the parents having the rights to the childs income though.
As well, New York has a legal requirement to set aside money from a child actors income to be held until the child comes of age. California also has the Coogan law which acts similarly.
If a childs income was totally claimable by the parents, these laws would not be possible or even considered. Granted, these are not typical situations but it does support the fact that a childs income belongs to the child, at least in some jurisdictions.
and to charging a child rent; I suppose that would mean the child is now a tenant and the parents a LL. HHmm, I wonder what we could do with that one.
Let's see, when does a parents liability for a childs debts end? I suppose kid could just forward the rent notice on to dad and let him pay it.
Child actors are protected by laws that were created after Jackie Coogan ended up penny-less when his parents took all of his income. That is why kids like Mccauley Caulkin (sp?) get emancipated too. But even parent's of a child star are allowed to a certain percent of their income to reimburse the adult for carting the kid around to auditions and such.
I don't think the OP mentioned his flourishing acting career. :D
I believe it is suppose to be up to 50% of the net salary that is suppose to go into a trust. (That is rather vague, what if they chose to put in only 1%?)
Coogan Act