Opinion ID: 1986916
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Self-Emancipation Under the Common Law

Text: In the context of child support, it is widely recognized that minors can emancipate themselves, i.e., place themselves beyond the care, custody, and control of their parents. See Marriage of Robinson, 629 P.2d at 1072; 1 D. Kramer, Legal Rights of Children § 15:1 et seq. (2d rev. ed. 2005); A. Wright, Annotation, What voluntary acts of child, other than marriage or entry into military service, terminate parent's obligation to support, 55 A.L.R.5th 557, 574 (1998). In Illinois, a minor may become emancipated based on statute [3] or common law. As one scholar explained: Common law emancipation generally happens through acts of the parties without any contemporaneous judicial declarations. However, it may later be recognized by the courts when the outcome of a particular legal issue, such as the obligation of the parent to pay for the youth's medical care or education, depends on whether or not the young person is emancipated. 1 D. Kramer, Legal Rights of Children § 15:1, at 1081-82 (rev. 2d ed. 2005). In other words: Emancipation as a legal term is useful, but only as a means of describing a result already reached, not as an analytical tool. 1 H. Clark, Domestic Relations § 9.3, at 550 (2d ed. 1987). The standard treatise on family law posits: A particular disability [of minority] should no longer exist whenever the child's circumstances have so changed that the reason for creating the disability no longer exists. This requires separate treatment for each sort of disability. 1 H. Clark, Domestic Relations § 9.3, at 550 (2d ed. 1987). In the context of child support, Professor Clark explains that the law confers upon children the right to be supported by their parents because children are unable to support themselves, and because human progress requires that there be a relatively long period of education and training for the young. If a child's situation is such that the child no longer needs to be supported, then the child's right to that support should no longer exist. Generally, courts find that this right ends at majority, but it could end earlier. 1 H. Clark, Domestic Relations § 9.3, at 552-53 (2d ed. 1987).