A

EMANCIPATION

The act or process by which a person is liberated from the authority and control of another person.

The term is primarily employed in regard to the release of a minor by his or her parents, which entails a complete relinquishment of the right to the care, custody, and earnings of such child, and a repudiation of parental obligations. The emancipation may be express—pursuant to a voluntary agreement between parent and child—or implied from conduct that denotes consent. It may be absolute or conditional, total or partial. A partial emancipation disengages a child for only a portion of the period of minority, or from only a particular aspect of the parent's rights or duties.

There is no determinate age when a child becomes emancipated; it usually, but not automatically, occurs upon the attainment of the age of majority.

CROSS-REFERENCES

Parent and Child.