Emancipation for My Best Interest

[Needs_to_get_away09]

Emancipation in: Texas
I am sixteen and I will turn seventeen in six months. I live in Texas and don't get along with my mother.She is bipolar and sometimes when we argue I'm afraid she will hit me. My father has filed for bankruptcy and is supporting my little sister, and is also getting divorced from my stepmother. He plans to live with my grandmother after the divorce, and I don't want to live there. I want to get emancipated and live on my own. I believe I can find a way to support myself and will do anything to get away from my mother. I have some questions.

Do you have to have a job before you file for emancipation and, if so, for how long?

Can you split the cost of rent with a roommate and still be considered to be living independently?

How long does the emancipation process take?

If I can't get emancipated now, what are my rights when I turn 17?

[cbg]

1.) You have to have a means of self-support, so if you don't have a job you'd better be independently wealthy. How long? Long enough to pay for your rent, your food, your clothes, utilities, medical care, transportation, insurance, school fees and supplies, and the list goes on.

2.) As long as you are earning enough to prove to a judge that if your roommate kicks you out, or gets hit by a bus, or moves to Australia, you will still be able to pay 100% of your own support, sure.

3.) Well, in your case, since you are not already living independently, it doesn't even start until your 17th birthday since in your state, a 16 year old can ONLY be emancipated if they are ALREADY independently. After that, it takes as long as it takes to convince the judge that you are capable of self-support, will not require public assistance, and that emancipation is in your best interest, keeping in mind that it's not your opinion as to what is in your best interest but the judge's opinion that counts.

4.) Other than as indicated above, to live where your parents say you live until you are 18. 17 is not 18 lite - you still need judicial permission to move out at 17.