Legal Question in Juvenile Dependency in Michigan

Re: emancipation/legal guardian change

In Michigan, there are several age thresholds. At 16, children are no longer required to attend school, and they can consent to sexual activity. At 17, they are treated as adults for all criminal activity. At 18, they can smoke cigarettes and cigars, and they have the legal capacity to sign contracts. At 21, they can drink alcohol.

I am not aware of anything that says that a person is UNemancipated when they are 20, 21 or even 24.

A person is legally emancipated in Michigan when they turn 18, or can be emancipated before that after a judge grants an emancipation petition (MCL 722.4a). Both of these ways to become emancipated are covered in MCL 722.4.

Emancipation is a term that changes the status of the parent and child. A parent of an unemancipated child has the right to the "custody, control, services and earnings of the minor", per MCL 722.2. Parents of unemancipated minors are legally obligated to support their children, per MCL 722.3(1).

There might be a responsibility under a divorce/custody order for a parent to provide for a child's education expenses into their 20s, but that does not mean that the child is unemancipated.