Results 1 to 3 of 3
  1. #1
    Join Date
    Dec 2012
    Posts
    1

    Default Can a Minor Get Emancipated if She Finishes High School and Holds a Job

    My question involves juvenile law in the State of: North Carolina

    My name's Nikki, I'm 17.
    I've looked for a lawyer who would give me legal counsel, but to be honest I'm just not all that comfortable paying someone $100-$275/hour to just give me advice, so any advice or pointers that you can give me is really greatly appreciated.

    I've been dealing with this issue for several years now, so I'm going to start at the beginning.

    Throughout my elementary school years I visited the school counselor several times a week to vent about my mother, the way that we lived, and other family issues. The condition that I kept coming to counseling, was that they didn't report it to anyone, and they kept their word.
    When I was in 8th grade, 12 years old, I finally decided that I didn't want to live with my mother anymore. I was just so tired of the yelling, the disturbing comments about how I was never good enough, how I just couldn't do anything right, and how I would never amount to anything in life/satisfy anyone. I would cry almost every day, and I was very depressed.
    In Febuary 2009, I told my counselor that I had reached my limit and that I just couldn't keep taking the angry words and actions that my mother was lashing out at me with. DSS was contacted and my brother and I went to live with my dad for about four months. (Actually, my brother and I took the bus home to my dads house and completely refused to go with my mother when the social worker/police came.) The only reason that my mother didn't fully press on us coming home was because the social worker had to perform an investigation of each home, and (my mother is a clutterbug/packrat and the house was a disaster) she wouldn't let them in her house. In May 2009, at the end of the school year, my mother hired a lawyer and filed a complaint with a DSS superior and the entire case was dropped because the investigation had gone on so long and had lost priority.
    When I returned home, we would get in awful verbal and physical fights. We have several police/hospital incident reports but because I was only 12, no charges were filed and because there was a recent DSS case closed, they weren't contacted either.
    At the beginning of July 2012 I just completely stopped responding to my mother, refusing to get out of her car, wouldn't leave the house, simply causing any issue that I could, in hopes that she would give up and let me live with my dad. Instead, I found myself in a childrens home, far away from my entire family.

    In the childrens home I got counseling and we were each "graded" on our daily chores/activies/actions/attitues, and I have those reports that show my high marks, and that I was never unruly, or rude, or anything.

    When my dad found out where I was at (my mother did this in secret, it was like I just up and dissapeared one day) he started coming to visit me, and I would spend my "home visits" every other weekend with him. It really made my mom angry that the childrens home didn't stop his visitation when she told them too, and when he filed to get custody of me, she pulled me out of there too. When they went to court, the judge denied his request for custody because she had the better job and "NC law now states that the minor has no right to choose where he/she lives"

    Throughout high school, the high tempers died down a bit. I cut myself off from the majority of the family and learned to ignore the snide comments and remarks that she still made. I visited my counselor once every other week and kept to myself. I worked out a plan to graduate early, coming into high school with four extra credits, and spending all of my spare time taking extra classes. I graduated last June, before I turned 17.
    My mothers new philosophy, since I've graduated, is that "I'm not her concern anymore."

    I was planning on starting college, because I figured that it would be the easiest way to just get out of her house, but due to child support issues, she lied on some paperwork and I couldn't get much financial aid, so I couldn't afford to go.

    Well, that's what's happened up to now. This is my current situation;

    On December 1st my mother and I got in a verbal fight because I had planned on going out to Mocksville to look at a possible car for myself. It really irritated her that I was still planning on buying my own car and moving out in January, because it would take away my dads responsibility of paying her child support. I told her that I really didn't care and I was still going, so I started packing up all my stuff in my room. She told me to "get the f**k out, so I called my dad to come pick me up.

    As I was loading the boxes and my dogs into the car, she decides to block my way out and gets right in my face. My dad saw it and called the police, because he knows that my mother and I have been very physically violent before. When they got there, she did tell them that it was okay for me to go with my dad, after they strongly recommended it.(I'm currently working on getting a copy of the police incident report)

    Because I've dealt with retaliation from her before, I am very afraid that she's going to come back with something much worse than putting me in a childrens home, etc.

    I have a full time job, and I just recently applied to pick up a second 3rd shift job.
    I know that at 17, I can't hold a legal contract, but I really am a legal adult, apart from the age barrier.
    I turn 18 in 7 months.
    I'm not very concerned about being emancipated because my dad's willing to let me live with him, but if thats the best path, I'll take it.

    What do I do? What forms do I fill out? Who do I talk to?
    I'm just really unsure of what comes next and any advice would help.
    Thanks so much for your time.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    Massachusetts
    Posts
    24,521

    Default Re: Can a Minor Get Emancipated if She Finishes High School and Holds a Job

    You don't know how to Google? It took me ten seconds to find this:

    http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/EnactedL...rticle_35.html

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
    Location
    OH10
    Posts
    17,019

    Default Re: Can a Minor Get Emancipated if She Finishes High School and Holds a Job

    It will likely take 7 months for the entire thing to go through court. It is obvious you are abused by the educational push you had to graduate, your ability to have a job and you having a car of your own.

    1. Sponsored Links
       

Similar Threads

  1. Education Law Issues: California School District Withholding High School Diplomas
    By tknurse40 in forum Education Law
    Replies: 4
    Last Post: 10-12-2012, 12:45 PM
  2. Minor in Possession: Minor Caught and Cited for Possession of Alcohol in High School
    By ladyeyraud in forum Criminal Charges
    Replies: 4
    Last Post: 12-23-2011, 04:10 PM
  3. Emancipation: 17 Year Old, Post High School Grad, Wants to be Emancipated
    By DaveKirk in forum Juvenile Law
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: 08-15-2011, 10:25 AM
  4. Emancipation: Can an Oklahoma High School Graduate Be Emancipated
    By Worried Momma in forum Juvenile Law
    Replies: 2
    Last Post: 08-15-2009, 06:41 AM
  5. Assault & Battery: Adult's Battery of a Minor at a High School
    By spirality in forum Criminal Charges
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: 11-03-2005, 06:26 PM
 
 
Sponsored Links

Legal Help, Information and Resources