Not Quite Emancipated

[lgeorge]

I'm 17 and live in Oklahoma with a friend of my mother's. She's had legal guadianship of me since last summer because after spending a semester in Ft. Worth, Texas with my father I decided that I would rather graduate from the school and town that I grew up in (mother moved to Houston last spring).

I moved out of my mother's house at 16 because of personal issues into my father's house and did the same from his house at 17. I currently am in no communication with either of them.

The woman that I live with and I split the rent of the house evenly. She has four kids and a "husband" all crammed in this tiny house with no gas, no phone, and a very sparse amount of food. The other utilities go in and out as she decides whether or not to pay the bills. She and her husband have decent jobs and she receives help from the government, but it seems that she would rather spend the money on the overstocked amount of alcoholic beverages in the refridgerator. I am completely independent. I work full time (while maintaining a 3.8 gpa) and pay my own phone bill, car insurance and rent, as well as my own food and miscellaneous needs.

I do not like the way this household is run, and I believe that I can do much better for myself if I live in an apartment or small house with a roomate. I can not join the military because of my plans to attend a university next year and marriage is not an option. I need a way to get legally emancipated so I can live on my own at the age I am now. Is there anything I can do make this possible without having to spend an unaffordable amount of money on the court process or parental consent?

[aaron]

How long will it be until you turn 18?

Is this person's guardianship of you through the courts, or is it simply a grant of guardianship by your parents to this person?

[lgeorge]

I will be 18 in May.

She is my legal guardian. There are court issued papers signed by both my mother's and father's lawyers stating that each has given me permission to live in Ardmore under this person's care until my graduation or my 18th birthday, whichever may come first.

[aaron]

As you may have already learned in your research, Oklahoma has a very limited emancipation statute which relates primarily to contract rights, not to living on your own. Also, as the guardianship is through a court, it would normally have to be terminated by the court.

[lgeorge]

So, the only way I could move out of the house I am currently living in is by getting married or joining the military, correct?

[aaron]

You can petition the court which ordered the guardianship for relief from that order. You may want to discuss your options with a local family lawyer.