Hacker News Reader

Emancipation is a pretty drastic step that most families would never consider.

Not really. I still live with my parents to this day - all it means is that I become an adult in the legal sense of the word and any contracts I sign are binding and nonvoidable.

Don't you have to prove that you're economically independent? I think that's how it is in Wisconsin.

They way it was explained to me is that I had to prove I was capable of providing for myself - not necessarily that I was receiving no financial support from my parents.

The law in WA (http://apps.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=13.64&full=...) reads "the petitioner [must indicate] that he or she has the ability to manage his or her financial affairs".

After both his parents had died, Howard Hughes got himself emancipated at age 19 (in 1924) so that he could take over the family business.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com