Emancipation

Koyaanisqatsi · August 14, 2003, 14:54

Specifically, from one's parents.

Does anybody know how this works? My fiancee is having trouble getting financial aid because her parents refuse to help by either cosigning a loan or filling out a FAFSA (federal aid form in the US, for those elsewhere, required for all aid at most places). Apparently, you have to be 24(!) before you can be considered anything other than a dependent, or married, or emancipated somehow...

Many thanks to anybody who can help at all, the bill is due very soon and we just found out today that her parents aren't helping...

Al B. Sure! · August 14, 2003, 15:13

i had the exact same problem... it's hopeless sorry. best you can do is have the college consider her independent and maybe they'll give her a little more scholarship money.

Al B. Sure! · August 14, 2003, 15:15

wait fiancee? if you two are married, she'll be emancipated... want to move up the wedding?

Koyaanisqatsi · August 14, 2003, 15:24

It'd be nice, but we don't have the money to do that, either....

yavoon · August 14, 2003, 15:31

50$ bux and elvis thinks otherwise

Elok · August 14, 2003, 15:40

Don't have the money? Elope! I mean, big weddings are about as much fun as a prostate check anyway; they wear out the bride and groom, they always cost more than you plan on, and I personally have never had a single ounce of fun at a wedding or reception that didn't involve laughing at the shenanigans of drunk guests trying to dance. Or just file for a civil marriage and go through the bloody ceremony later.

Koyaanisqatsi · August 14, 2003, 15:41

The King is dead...

Koyaanisqatsi · August 14, 2003, 15:43

It's more the long-term costs (insurance, expenses, etc.) that are the problem, not the ceremony.

Although we'd both like a ceremony, too, we could live without it.

Harry Seldon · August 14, 2003, 15:51

How would the long term costs be more married than single? You can get married by a justice of the peace for fifty dollars in some places. You'll probably never get the money for a big wedding if you wait and from the sound of it your fiance's parents aren't going to be helping. Same thing happened to my wife and I but in reverse; we couldn't get married until after she received her final pell grant because with my income we made about $12000 which would have kept her from receiving a majority of her money.

MichaeltheGreat · August 14, 2003, 16:34

That's sort of a chickenshit angle on financial aid, since one's you're 18 you're an adult for all purposes but buying hooch and handguns.

Emancipation of minors is a state law issue, and only applies if you're under 18, and other states and financial aid, etc., may not give a ****. The intent was/is to prevent well off parents from scamming the system when they otherwise could/would pay to put their little darlings through college.

Koyaanisqatsi · August 14, 2003, 16:41

Thus the problem...they could, they just won't.

Harry Seldon · August 14, 2003, 16:53

What fantastic people! Sounds like my wife's family:

"Since you're getting married, we pooled one hundred dollars for the wedding. Are you going to rent a suite of rooms for us if we come down? No? Well, then we're not coming! Good luck!"

Sleazebags. They'd rather eat a bullet than help their kids out. We've had to bail her brother and sister out of several jams. When her sister began to become mentally ill and we couldn't take care of her like the situation warranted, their mother told us that maybe we should try to find a home for her because they didn't have the time or money to help.

Koyaanisqatsi · August 14, 2003, 17:11

Oh, I won't go into the many issues I have with them, but....yeah.

SlowwHand · August 14, 2003, 17:16

http://www.larcc.org/pamphlets/child...ancipation.htm

Japher · August 14, 2003, 17:19

boot to the head!

Harry Seldon · August 14, 2003, 17:21

Her parents have seemed to be getting better after much wrangling. Good luck with it.

Koyaanisqatsi · August 14, 2003, 17:22

Thanks Sloww, but I'm getting the impression that emancipation for financial aid purposes is different from emancipation for legal purposes. In Maine, you can only be 'emancipated' from your parents if you're under 18. So I don't know what the story is if you're between 18 and 24...

MichaeltheGreat · August 14, 2003, 17:36

The story is you're legally an adult and financial aid rules are totally different. There's no set of "rights" involved with financial aid for higher education.

Koyaanisqatsi · August 14, 2003, 17:39

Yeah, but if you had gone through emancipation as a minor, then you would be able to apply as a non-dependent when the time came. If you don't, then the government has decided that your parents have an obligation to help you pay for school, and if the parents don't feel that obligation, then you're screwed until you're 24...which makes no sense at all.

Japher · August 14, 2003, 17:42

who needs conscription, eh?

Dr Strangelove · August 14, 2003, 18:15

Perhaps you could use the incident where the parents refused to help the mentally ill sibling as proof that staying home with them would be "dangerous" (if they neglect one child, they may neglect the others as well) and use that as the legal basis of a petition for emancipation.

Koyaanisqatsi · August 14, 2003, 18:15

Harry Seldon · August 14, 2003, 18:18

You know, I think unless her parents are filing her as a dependant she should be considered a separate entity. You may want to check that. If she's not living at home anymore and hasn't this year then technically they can't count her as one. Maybe she could file Single and claim that no one can claim her as a dependant on her taxes. Surely if she's independant in the IRS's eyes she can be in the schooling system. Out of curiousity, how did the school find out about her parents and their monetary status anyways?

Koyaanisqatsi · August 14, 2003, 18:26

Nope, checked that. She's not a dependent on their taxes, but it doesn't matter.

And the school doesn't know about her parents' financial status...if the parents were willing to allow that, they'd just fill out the FAFSA. But the school knows her parents are alive, and as long as they're alive they're supposed to fill out a FAFSA until she's 24, married, have been in the military, have a kid, or are emancipated.

Monk · August 14, 2003, 18:31

Would an emancipated 17-year-old be able to vote?

Koyaanisqatsi · August 14, 2003, 18:37

No. It's more a matter of guardianship.

Harry Seldon · August 14, 2003, 18:59

Can't vote until you're eighteen.

OzzyKP · August 14, 2003, 19:00

"Can't vote until you're eighteen."

I'm working on changing that. Stay tuned for new developments.

http://www.youthrights.org

OzzyKP · August 14, 2003, 19:02

As for Emancipation, NYRA is working on a resource to assist you and others. Go to: http://www.youthrights.org/emancipation.shtml

To read state laws on the matter. Just hope your state is on the list. It may provide some guidance as to what the requirements are in your state.

st_swithin · August 14, 2003, 20:17

Didn't Drew Barrymore get emancipated from her parents at the age of 15? There MUST be a way to accomplish this if she's 24.

And I second the flying Elvis wedding - for $50, you can have a fat, hairy sweaty King of Rock n' Roll lookalike hitch you two crazy kids in less time than it takes to make a deep-fried peanut butter and banana sandwich.