Legal Question in Family Law in Michigan

Re: Getting Emancipated

You can always apply for emancipation. It's not as easy as it used to be...you may find that a few months down the road [closer to 17], you'll have a better chance, because the kinds of jobs you're likely to get at your age will NOT support you. In fact, in this economy, you'll be lucky to get anything above minimum wage...do the math: it's not a good deal.

Try to stick it out for another year, and then get yourself into college. Unless they are abusing you, you would be doing yourself a favor. If they ARE abusing you, then that would be a strong basis for early emancipation and criminal charges against them.

If you just don't like their rules, then use this time to get yourself together and PLAN for a good launch into self-sufficiency (you'll need some adult help on this, it's an entirely new skill on a level you're not going to understand until you've tried and failed a few times).

I wouldn't recommend that ANY teen try to make it in this world right now without a surrogate family that can catch you when you fall, because you will. You'll need support from somewhere to dust yourself off and keep going.

Maybe there's someone in your church or other activity who can do this for you, but it's a LOT tougher than you probably think trying to make it on the sort of salary that would be paid to a typical teenager.

Good luck!