Need Help With Emancipation

[brithe]

I posted a thread about six months ago about getting emancipated at 15, and you guys told me that I couldn't. Here is that forum.

In 8 days I will be turning 16. I plan on getting a job and saving as much money as I can, and when I get enough saved up, I plan on moving out and moving to Florida. I have a family there who is willing to rent me a room on their property, and I will start on getting a job the day I get there. And once there, serve emancipation papers to my father. But to do this, I'm going to basically have to tell my father I'm moving out, and get to the bus station as fast as I can, because there is no way he'll ever let me move out.

Why I want to get emancipated: The past 8 years that I've been forced to live with my father have been complete and total HELL. My parents divorced when I was eight, on the grounds that my dad beat my mother regularly, and that my mother was a alcoholic/drug addict. I was sent to live with my dad, who then started carrying out the abuse on me. On top of the physical abuse, he does nothing but yell at me. The only times he talks to me, and I'm not exaggerating on this, are to tell me to clean something, or to yell at me for something I've done wrong. He tells me all the time that I'm going to end up a drug addict like my mother, and that I'm going to end up on the streets. He is also forcing me to go to a school with the highest teen pregnancy rate in Texas, and with some of the worst teaching, because he thinks that I am too stupid to get a scholarship at any other school. That is not true. I am in all AP and Pre-AP classes, and easily making A's. He does nothing but make me feel like a worthless person, and he does it on purpose. I have tried killing myself several times, just because I couldn't take living with him. He has put me in counseling before, and every single person has told me that he is mostly the reason why I'm so messed up. And if the counselor doesn't tell me that I need to follow every single thing he says without question and do it automatically, he immediately takes me out. I have called the cops on him several times before for hitting me, but my dad is a freaking master of weasel-ing his way out of any situation. Everytime I get CPS involved, he lies his way out of it, and yells at me until I back down.
My mother, while not a drug addict anymore, is still an alcoholic, and drinks constantly. I moved in with her over the summer, and within a month she'd lost her job and was sitting on the couch drinking and sleeping all day. We were relying on my uncle to survive. It dawned on me that I'd never be able to live with her.
Neither one of my parent's homes are happy, stable, or safe environments. At my father's I have to worry about him hitting me, or me just losing it one day and killing myself, and at my mom's I have to worry about how much she's drank, or if we're going to be evicted soon.

Will I be able to legally go about this?
And how do I go about serving emancipation papers to my father?

[panther10758]

"Planning" on getting a job will not due! You must already have the job! No judge will grant a petition based on "I will have"

[brithe]

I know that.
But I'm not going to serve the papers until I have a job, because I know you have to have a job.
Other than that, do you think I'll be able to do this?

[panther10758]

Have you read the statute? If so then your answers are there

[panther10758]

Quoting Texas Emancipation Law
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sec. 31.001. REQUIREMENTS.
(a) A minor may petition to have the disabilities of minority removed for limited or general purposes if the minor is:
(1) a resident of this state;

(2) 17 years of age, or at least 16 years of age and living separate and apart from the minor's parents, managing conservator, or guardian; and (3) self-supporting and managing the minor's own financial affairs.
(b) A minor may file suit under this chapter in the minor's own name. The minor need not be represented by next friend.
Sec. 31.002. REQUISITES OF PETITION; VERIFICATION.
(a) The petition for removal of disabilities of minority must state:
(1) the name, age, and place of residence of the petitioner;

(2) the name and place of residence of each living parent;

(3) the name and place of residence of the guardian of the person and the guardian of the estate, if any;

(4) the name and place of residence of the managing conservator, if any;

(5) the reasons why removal would be in the best interest of the minor; and

(6) the purposes for which removal is requested.
(b) A parent of the petitioner must verify the petition, except that if a managing conservator or guardian of the person has been appointed, the petition must be verified by that person. If the person who is to verify the petition is unavailable or that person's whereabouts are unknown, the guardian ad litem shall verify the petition.
Sec. 31.003. VENUE.

The petitioner shall file the petition in the county in which the petitioner resides.
Sec. 31.004. GUARDIAN AD LITEM.

The court shall appoint a guardian ad litem to represent the interest of the petitioner at the hearing.
Sec. 31.005. ORDER.

The court by order, or the Texas Supreme Court by rule or order, may remove the disabilities of minority of a minor, including any restriction imposed by Chapter 32, if the court or the Texas Supreme Court finds the removal to be in the best interest of the petitioner. The order or rule must state the limited or general purposes for which disabilities are removed.
Sec. 31.006. EFFECT OF GENERAL REMOVAL.
Except for specific constitutional and statutory age requirements, a minor whose disabilities are removed for general purposes has the capacity of an adult, including the capacity to contract. Except as provided by federal law, all educational rights accorded to the parent of a student, including the right to make education decisions under Section 151.003(a)(10), transfer to the minor whose disabilities are removed for general purposes.
Sec. 31.007. REGISTRATION OF ORDER OF ANOTHER STATE OR NATION.
(a) A nonresident minor who has had the disabilities of minority removed in the state of the minor's residence may file a certified copy of the order removing disabilities in the deed records of any county in this state.

(b) When a certified copy of the order of a court of another state or nation is filed, the minor has the capacity of an adult, except as provided by Section 31.006 and by the terms of the order.

[cbg]

You keep talking about serving papers on your father, like you have this vision of yourself essentially saying to him, Here, I don't have to do what you say any more and here are the court papers to prove it.

I'm not saying I necessarily blame you.

But that isn't going to happen. Look at the statute. You must ALREADY be living apart from your parents. Your parent or legal guardian must CONSENT to it.

There isn't going to be a dramatic scene where you get to declare your independence.

[brithe]

My dad will never consent to it.
He couldn't stand to lose his punching bag/maid.

Well that's the only way I really know how to put it.
Is there any way I can do it without his consent?

Do both parents have to consent? My mother would consent, because she knows how badly I want to get away from my father.

That makes the law kind of pointless.
You're already moved out, so you're already away.
And if you're parents don't care that you're not living with them,
what's the point in getting emancipated?

Side question: how long does the court process and everything usually take?

[panther10758]

No you miss the point in the law. Emancipation was intended for teens through no fault of their own found themselves in a position of self support. Emancipation gives them the rights they need to live independently. Now your case needs to be brought up to CPS. Yours is a cas eof abuse inwhich CPS has your solution not emancipation