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How Long Are Your Parents Financially Responsible for You?

January 4, 2021 By MelissaB Leave a Comment

From the time a baby is born until he is 17 years of age, experts estimate that parents will pay approximately $233,000 to care and provide for him (USDA). That amount doesn’t even include the cost of college! Parenthood is a lifelong responsibility, but the financial aspect has a definitive end according to the law.

How Long Are Parents Financially Responsible for You?

In the majority of states, parents are financially responsible for you until you reach the age of majority, which is 18. However, if you live in Mississippi, the age of majority isn’t until 21!

Early Termination of Parental Responsibility

In rare cases, parents’ financial and legal responsibility can end early.

Termination of Legal Custody

One way this may happen is if the Department of Children and Family Services takes the children away from the parents due to neglect or abuse. Parents are given time and classes to improve their parenting skills and regain custody of their children. However, if they don’t change, their parental rights may be terminated. In that case, they are no longer financially responsible for their children, but they also can no longer see their children.

Emancipation

Parents’ financial responsibility for you can also end if you become emancipated. This can happen several different ways.

Natural Emancipation

There are two ways you can be naturally emancipated.

Marriage

You will be naturally emancipated if you marry before the age of 18. Of course, the age in which you can marry depends on your state, but only four states—Delaware, New Jersey, Minnesota and Pennsylvania—don’t allow legal marriage before the age of 18. The rest allow marriage at a variety of ages including as young as 13. Once you’re married, your parents are no longer financially responsible for you.

Join the Military

Parents Financially Responsible for You — Photo by Jessica Radanavong on Unsplash

Likewise, you are eligible to join the military at 17. If you do, your parents’ financial responsibility for you ends.

Minor Initiated Emancipation

In rare cases, a child can petition the court to be emancipated. To successfully do so, a child must prove that he is mature enough and has the means to support himself. While this doesn’t seem to happen frequently, there are plenty of child actors who have taken this step including Drew Barrymore who became emancipated at 14 and Macaulay Culkin who requested emancipation at 16.

Extended Parental Responsibility

In certain instances, parents’ financial responsibility for you may last longer than the age of majority. This may happen if you have a disability and your parents petition the court to be your legal guardian. In order for them to be your legal guardian, they will need to prove that due to a disability, you are unable to manage your affairs. If your parents become your legal guardians, they will ultimately make financial and legal decisions for you.

Final Thoughts

In general, parents are no longer legally financially responsible for you in most states when you reach the age of 18. However, there are several circumstances where this legal obligation may end sooner or extend longer.

How to Prepare Your Teens to Live on Their Own

When Should Your Child Get a Checking Account?

How We Save Money with Ting as Our Cell Phone Provider

When Should Your Child Get a Checking Account?

August 10, 2020 By MelissaB Leave a Comment

My oldest child has always had an interest in spending money and being independent, so I shouldn’t have been surprised when he wanted to open a checking account, but I was. After all, I rarely use my own checking account. I didn’t think a 13-year old would want one, but he was adamant he did. It turns out, he was smart to want a checking account from such a young age, and I’m glad we let him open one.

When Should Your Child Get a Checking Account?

There’s no hard and fast rule when your you child should get a checking account, but if the child is asking for one, it’s probably time. That may happen when the child is 13 like my son was, or it may not happen until the child is 16 and working her first job. (That’s when I got my checking account as a teen; I had no desire to have one before that.) Your child will let you know when she is ready for one. However, definitely by 16 or 17 she should open an account so she can practice managing her money before she moves away from home.

Have Safeguards in Place

Most banks require teens to have a parent co-sign on the account. As a parent, you can also receive copies of the monthly statements so you can make sure your child is managing his money properly.

However, some banks have more parental controls than others, so you’ll want to pick the bank in part based on how responsible your teen is. The bank our son chose had limited parental controls, but he didn’t really need them. However, some banks allow parents to set limits on daily withdrawals and to receive text alerts when the child withdraws money.

Debit Card Experience Is Invaluable

Having a debit card attached to the checking account is invaluable. Our child used actual checks sporadically, but he used his debit card all the time. He knew down to the penny how much money he had in his account, and he would frequently ride his bike down to the bank to deposit more money before planning on shopping.

What Having a Checking Account Taught Our Child

Our son was diligent about writing down his expenses and managing his balance. Still, one time early on he had an overdrawn account. Sure, I was co-owner on the account, but when he had overdraft fees, I didn’t pay them; he did.

He was so annoyed with himself, and he has never made that mistake again in years of having a checking account. I feel confident that when he’s on his own, he’ll be able to responsibly manage his checking account.

Final Thoughts

If you’re wondering when should your child get a checking account, the short answer is when she asks for one and is at least 13 years old. However, she definitely should open one by the time she’s 16 or 17 so she can prepare to be financially responsible when she leaves home.

How We’re Helping Our Teen Save for College

February 10, 2020 By MelissaB Leave a Comment

College is getting more expensive every year, and with the student loan crisis, more and more students and parents are trying to forego student loans. Avoiding student loans, if possible, is a smart way to go. We should know; my husband and I are still paying off his student loans from graduate school, which he finished eight years ago. So, we want to do everything we can to help our own children go to college without accruing any debt. How we’re helping our teen save for college involves a multi-pronged approach.

How We’re Helping Our Teen Save for College

There are four ways we’re helping our teen save for college:

Using an Employee Discount

My husband is employed at our local university, so our children will get 75% off the price of tuition. While this school currently costs approximately $12,000 for in-state tuition for a year, our children, thanks to the discount, will only need to pay $3,000 a year.

Matching Our Teen’s Savings

From the time our children were young, we set up a savings account for college. We match each dollar that our child saves in this account. Our three children all have varying balances, and one of our children is a much more prolific saver than the other two. While this account won’t cover their $3,000 a year that they will have to pay for college, it will likely cover their textbooks for several semesters.

Paying for AP Tests

How We're Helping Our Teen Save for College — Photo by Ben Mullins on Unsplash

Our teen is bright and this year decided to challenge himself with an AP history course. We paid for the AP test that he will take in May. If he scores a 4 or a 5 on this test, he will be able to earn college credit for the course.

Next year, he plans to take several AP classes and tests, and we’ll pay for those, too, in the hopes that he can score high enough and reduce the amount of time he needs to be in college.

Finding Scholarships

Our teen took a practice PSAT at school, and while his score was okay, it wasn’t stellar. Since he has a 4.0 in school, if he can raise his SAT score by at least 100, he will qualify for a $6,000 scholarship from our university. (The higher the scores, the higher the scholarship amount he qualifies for. If he could get his score even more than 100 points higher, he would qualify for an even larger scholarship.)

We don’t have money to pay for SAT tutoring, but having it would be valuable, especially if it helps our child raise his score and qualify for the scholarship. I found a scholarship offered through a private foundation that could be used for SAT prep. We applied, received the scholarship, and he’s begun tutoring this semester.

Final Thoughts

Money has been tight throughout our marriage, so we’ve never had much money to set aside for our children’s college education. (Our priority has been paying off our student loans and saving for retirement.)

However, helping a child in other ways rather than just paying tuition outright can also be valuable. This is how we’re helping our teen save for college.

How Long Are Parents Financially Responsible for You?

Early Termination of Parental Responsibility

Termination of Legal Custody

Emancipation

Natural Emancipation

Marriage

Join the Military

Minor Initiated Emancipation

Extended Parental Responsibility

Final Thoughts

Read More

When Should Your Child Get a Checking Account?

Have Safeguards in Place

Debit Card Experience Is Invaluable

What Having a Checking Account Taught Our Child

Final Thoughts

How We’re Helping Our Teen Save for College

Using an Employee Discount

Matching Our Teen’s Savings

Paying for AP Tests

Finding Scholarships

Final Thoughts