Moving Out at 17 in Michigan

[cgb2893]

My question involves juvenile law in the State of: Michigan.

I turned 16 last month and have been counting down the days until I can move out. I thought it was 18 but heard that you can move out at 17 as long as you stay in state. My mom wouldn't care but my dad wouldn't let me. Would this cause an issue?

[aardvarc]

Yes, it could. Regardless of what you heard, the legal age of majority in Michigan is 18. At 17 years and 364 days, a parent is still your legal authority and can say if you can move out or not. That doesn't mean that every law enforcement agency, or even every individual officer, will drop everything they're doing to launch a manhunt for you, but they most certainly can either notify a parent of your whereabouts, return you to a parent, or take a missing/runaway report and put you "in the system" as a runaway. A parent can give permission for you to move out or live elsewhere, but until 18, a parent can also take back that permission at any time. When there are two parents and one says "yes" and the other says "no", the "no" is going to win the day since legally, parents are still responsible for you until you hit 18, so the courts back up their abilities to parent you until that time.