Legal Question in Family Law in Illinois

Freedom at age 17? No, but emancipation is a possibility.

A younger person can seek emancipation which would entitle him or her to be free of parental control, but a minor (this includes seventeen-year-olds) is NOT an emancipated minor until a court of competent jurisdiction formally and officially declares by judgment that the minor is emancipated. It is simply not enough for emancipation that a child leave home. More must be shown. Mature adults have a job or other independent means of support, live in an apartment or other living quarters which the person pays for, and pays all his or her own bills. It must be proven that �the minor is a mature minor who is of sound mind and has the capacity and maturity to manage his own affairs including his finances, and that the best interests of the minor and his family will be promoted by declaring the minor an emancipated minor.� Until a court declares otherwise, a seventeen-year-old lacks the right of an adult.

If an unemancipated minor�s parents chose, they could have the police take the minor into custody if he or she refused to return home. This includes seventeen-year-olds. The Juvenile Court Act refers to Minors Requiring Authoritative Intervention, i.e., �Those requiring authoritative intervention include any minor under 18 years of age (1) who is (a) absent from home without consent of parent, guardian or custodian� (705 ILCS 405/3-3). �A law enforcement officer may, without a warrant, take into limited custody a minor who the law enforcement officer reasonably determines is (i) absent from home without consent of the minor's parent, guardian or custodian� (705 ILCS 405/3-4). Once this is done (unless the minor will return home or the parent consent to alternative living arrangements) the court system and child protection system take over. Sometimes, a teenager finds themselves in foster care or a state-facility when they won�t go home.

The person who takes a minor in could also get into trouble. Section 10-6 of the Illinois Criminal Code provides: �Harboring a runaway. (a) Any person, . . . who, without the knowledge and consent of the minor's parent or guardian, knowingly gives shelter to a minor, other than a mature minor who has been emancipated under the Emancipation of Mature Minors Act, for more than 48 hours without the consent of the minor's parent or guardian, and without notifying the local law enforcement authorities of the minor's name and the fact that the minor is being provided shelter commits the offense of harboring a runaway.� This is a crime.

As you can see from the foregoing, there are no short-hand answers and the free advice you get from non-lawyers is worth exactly what you paid for it.