Legal Question in Family Law in Illinois

Rights of Daughter's Minor Boyfriend

I assume when you ask �does she have any rights to him now?� you are referring to the boy�s mother. She does have rights. She is the parent of a minor child and is entitled to his care, custody, and control. If she chose, she could have the police take him into custody if he refuses to return home. 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.

The seventeen-year-old is NOT an emancipated minor until a court of competent jurisdiction declares him to be emancipated. He may file a petition for emancipation under the Emancipation of Mature Minors Act (750 ILCS 30/1, et seq.) but it is simply not enough for emancipation that a child leave home. More must be shown. 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.�

Does this seventeen-year-old have a steady job? Is he attending school regularly? Does he pay rent and board to you? Does he pay his own bills (e.g., phone, auto expenses, auto insurance, etc.)? If he can�t answer yes to most if not all of these questions, he is not mature. Worse than that, there is a risk that letting him leave home and move into your house will teach him (and your daughter) irresponsibility.

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. That�s clearly and undeniably what will be required of this boy someday.