17 and wants to be emancipated..this is my story (lawyer, houses)

[camiller0669]

I am 17 and want to be emancipated. I currently live with my mother. I have lived with her my whole life and chose to live with my father in Maryland because i was being mentally abused by my mother's husband. He was constantly threatening to send me to my father's and that he would kick me out and he always made smart remarks about my weight. My step father is an alcholic and will not put the bottle down. He physically abuses my mom but has not touched her in a while that I know of. Although they bought my love with material things, it was not a family and I had enough.

Well I finally got up the courage to move to my dad's when I was 15. I had a great time, I may of not had the material things, but at least I was loved and I knew he ment it. My dad did drink and we had out fights but not as much as at my mother's. My father showed me what a family was even though it was just me, him and my older sister and her son. We had a great bond. We all lived in the same house and we barley fought. My dad quit drinking for me to better our father daughter relationship. He shortly found out he had type2 diabeties. My dad died on December 23rd, 2008 at 2:57am when I was 16 years old. Christmas, my birthday and Father's day will never be the same. Christmas because he died the morning before christmas eve. My birthday because mine is may 14th and my dad's is may 16th and father's day because we always went for a 3 day motorcycle trip every year.

My mother dragged me back to Illinois after my dad passed away and is now totally controlling my life. I cant even get a job because she wont let me!! and I want to work!!!!!

How can I get emancipated??

I did inherite a large lump sum of money from my dad when he passed, can i show that as income if I get emancipated?

I need support..

[Avengerfire]

You probably should edit out some of your life details in this post. It might not be a good idea to share that much detailed personal info like dates on the net.

That being said I am sorry to hear about your dad passing and the hard life you have had to deal with.

How close are you to graduating H.S.?

It might be in your best interests to obtain your G.E.D. asap and get yourself into college right away.

That should help the process.

I am sure you are a nice person and pretty girl.

Hopefully you will be able to figure this out soon.

[linicx]

You need a good attorney for two things: emancipation and protect your money until you are of age or emancipated - which ever comes first. Your lawyer can file papers for emancipattion and out of the house as long as you have a place to live and a support system like your sister. Put our money in the bank, get your GED, go to work and go to college. Your mother can control your money too - if she has it. I believe your lawyer must have an escrow account. If he doesn't i won't take more than 15 minutes to do it.

[doll lady]

Hello...camiller. Glad to know you. I know being age 17 is a tough age. I have a grandson your age and it just seems this is a difficult age. It's hard to live in a stepparent/child household. I know because I had a stepmother who didn't like me. Fortunately I just ignored the situation and bit my tongue until I was age 18.

I would suggest that you talk to your guidance counselor and be honest with that counselor. I bet he or she would be glad to suggest some "safe" houses or places which would be able to talk to you about various things going on in your life. You might want to try to talk to your county's state's attorney who might be able to direct you to the best course of actions. I agree that you probably need to make sure your inheritance is protected from anyone spending it for something not authorized by you.

We are merely people on here and by far the majority of us are not really qualified to give you advice....in fact we could be in real trouble if we tell you to do something and that measure is something out of line and your parent would find out about that.

I sincerely wish that you find peace in your life. I'm sure you are a wonderful teen on your way to being a level headed grown-up person. Good luck and stay cool!!!

[cap1717]

Your situation does sound pretty miserable, but I would encourage you to finish H.S., if you have not already, or get a GED, and then use some of that money you were left to go to college. You can choose a school conveniently far away from your mother and her husband, and by the time you graduate, you will have the skills to both support yourself, and you will be a "legal" adult, not subject to unwanted direction from your mother. My situation, while not the same, was similar in some ways, I did not have $$ for college, but between low cost education borrowing (all paid back, now), and working practially full time throughout my college days, I was able to finish school and get a degree. Best of luck to you.

[Drover]

By the time you go through the legal machinations of emancipation, you'll probably be 18 at which time you can emancipate yourself. As for protecting your money as someone else upthread said, since you're a minor, if the money was left to you in your name (rather than left to your mother with general instructions to use it for your care) that money is under court trusteeship if it wasn't already put in a private trust for you. That's not something you should have to worry about. That said, you may not get full access to it until you're older anyway, and you would still need the trustee's permission to access it.