Legal Question in Juvenile Dependency in Kentucky

Re: Emancipation in Kentucky

It is not possible to give you a clear legal answer to your inquiry without a more detailed evaluation of the facts of your case.

While Kentucky has no specific emancipation statute, an individual, upon turning 18, has all the rights and obligations of citizenship as an adult (voting, right to contract, right to marry, etc.); excepting, of course, the right to purchase or consume alcoholic beverages (age limit 21 in Kentucky).

On the other hand, a parent may voluntarily emancipate a child under the age of 18, by agreement between parent and child.

"The doctrine of `emancipation', . . . is a recognition of the right of the parent to relinquish control and authority over his child to whose custody and service he is entitled; or to surrender, if he so elects and desires, to his minor (child), who is capable of making his own living, the right to do so, and the privilege of receiving the wages that he earns. . . . In other words, when a child has been emancipated, he occupies the same legal relation towards the parent as if he has arrived at full age." Carricato v. Carricato, Ky., 384 S.W.2d 85, 88 (1964) (quoting Rounds Bros, v. McDaniel, Ky., 133 Ky. 669, 118 S.W. 956 (1909).

However, while a child may be emancipated for some purposes, minority status may still attach otherwise:

Although [emancipation] may remove the infant from parental control or destroy the common-law right of the parent to the services of the child, it has never been held in this or any other jurisdiction that such emancipation will render an infant sui juris (In civil law the phrase sui juris indicates legal competence, the capacity to manage one�s own affairs.) Bensinger's Coex'rs v. West, Ky., 255 S.W.2d 27, 28 (1953).

"[I]t does not remove all of the disabilities of infancy. It does not, for example, enlarge or affect the minor's capacity or incapacity to contract." (C.J.S., Infants, Sec. 28, p. 91).

'Emancipation in turn may be classified as express emancipation and implied emancipation. Express emancipation results when the parent and child voluntarily agree that the child, able to take care of himself, may go out from his home and make his own living, receive his own wages and spend them as he pleases. An implied emancipation grows out of the parent's acquiescence in his child's working for others, receiving his pay therefor and spending same as he pleases, thereby impliedly consenting to same.'

You should not take any action, based upon my advice, without consulting an attorney and explaining all the facts to him. You are best advised to seek the services of a competent Kentucky attorney. You can telephone your local bar association for a referral, or can find a good lawyer on-line at the Kentucky Bar Association's Lawyer Referral Service:

http://www.kybar.org/Default.aspx?tabid=291

Good luck!

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