In South Carolina, a 17-year-old can accept or reject medical procedures. These include medications, surgery, diagnostic procedures, and various forms of therapy. The parents of the 17-year-old must not override the young person`s decisions regarding their own medical care. These rights extend to the end of life: a 17-year-old can make a legally binding living will to resuscitate or donate body parts. Are you concerned about how statutory pension laws affect you? If you need help with an emancipation application or a request to stop child support because of your child`s emancipation, talk to a family law attorney in South Carolina. An experienced lawyer can help you with these procedures and help you clarify age-related issues. If child support is paid directly from one parent to the other, the paying parent can stop paying when their obligation ends. If this applies to you, be careful not to stop paying too early. Also note that if you support other minor children, you still have an obligation for them. Everything the divorce decree says is equivalent to a court order, and it should be followed if you don`t want to get into legal trouble. As you may know, there is some confusion about the responsibility of law enforcement, parents and government agencies for seventeen-year-olds.

South Carolina law seeks to recognize that a seventeen-year-old is no longer a child, but is not yet a legal adult. At Cate Law Firm, we have decades of experience assisting clients in South Carolina with child support and all other types of family law matters. We practice exclusively family law and have extensive knowledge of the legal process and what is required to ensure favorable outcomes for our clients. In the case of an outlier in which the parents do not agree that the child should leave the house, the child would not be considered an emancipated minor according to our jurisprudence. Parents are therefore still legally responsible for their seventeen-year-old runaway in some cases. In most cases, a child in South Carolina is not considered an adult until they reach the “age of majority,” which is 18. This is the age at which a child is no longer a minor and can make certain legal decisions himself. However, there are cases in which a child can emancipate himself before the age of 18. In such cases, child support would no longer be necessary. This information has been created to give you general information about the law. It is not legal advice on a particular issue.

If you have any questions about the law, you should consult a lawyer. If you don`t know a lawyer, you can call the South Carolina Bar Lawyer Referral Service weekdays between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. The number is 799-7100 in Richland or Lexington counties and 1-800-868-2284 in other parts of the state. In the testimony of the South Carolina Attorney General`s Office prior to the 2016 amendment, there was no clear indication that a seventeen-year-old runaway had committed a status offense, an act “considered illegal solely because of the age of the perpetrator.” [8] Instead, the South Carolina Attorney General`s Office focused on “the legal right to detain a seventeen-year-old if the child`s well-being, life, or physical integrity is in danger.” [9] Lindsay Kramer is a freelance writer and writer who has been working in the legal niche since 2012. She focuses in this niche on family law and personal injury law. Lindsay works closely with several legal marketing agencies and provides blog posts, website content, and marketing materials to law firms in the United States. The following table explains the main statutory laws on the age of minors in South Carolina. If a minor “who has deliberately left his or her home without the permission of his or her parents or legal guardian” is considered a minor, he or she may be tried as a “runaway child” and face legal problems as a result of such a legal decision. [6] Contracts As a general rule, a child cannot enter into a contract or other legally binding agreement.

However, if a child enters into a contract while under the age of 18, they can make it legally binding by accepting the contract in writing (called ratification) when they reach the age of 18. An exception is the ability to sign a contract to borrow money to go to university. A child can own and transfer property and can also have a bank account, but most banks require you to be 15 to have your own account. Emancipation When a person is of age, we speak of “emancipation”. In general, emancipation is the time when parents are no longer legally responsible for their children and children are no longer legally accountable to their parents. It is when parents no longer need to provide a person with food, clothing, medical care and education. The age of majority in SC is 18. Note: Since state laws are constantly changing, it`s important to confirm the accuracy of the laws you`re looking for by doing your own legal research or contacting an attorney. Seventeen year olds in South Carolina have the right to apply for emancipation in court. Emancipation is the legal process by which a young person is granted some of the rights and freedom of action that typically accompany reaching the age of majority, including: Definition – A person under the age of 18 who intentionally left home without parental or guardian permission. Although young workers have the same legal rights as adult workers, they are subject to certain restrictions that are not imposed on adults.

In South Carolina, teens as young as 14 can be legally employed and, unlike teens in other states, they don`t need underage labor certificates to work legally. However, emancipation does not grant all the rights that normally accompany adulthood. If a 17-year-old is legally emancipated, he or she still does not have the right to vote until the age of 18. Tobacco It is a crime for anyone to sell or give tobacco or tobacco products to a person under the age of 21. The purchase or possession of tobacco products is also a non-criminal civil offence for anyone under the age of 21. Any person under 21 years of age who violates this law is liable to a fine; may be sentenced to a smoking cessation course or community service; or their driver`s licence is delayed, suspended or restricted. America could be described as a nation of aberrations without exaggerating the historical record. The colonization and expansion of this country was motivated by people, many of them young people, who fled their homes and families, slave owners and employers.

Children and adults have run to and within America to escape tyranny and oppression, seek adventure and make fortunes.