Also known as: ages of majority · majority age
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
The statutory age at which an individual acquires full legal capacity to enter contracts, make wills, and exercise other adult rights unless emancipated. The age is 18 unless an applicable statute provides otherwise. A person below this age is a minor whose donative transfers and contracts are subject to special rules of capacity.
Audrey Ashton, age seventeen, hand-signed a letter directing her structured settlement annuity to her stepbrother after her death. Because she had not reached the age of majority and was not emancipated, the writing was void for lack of capacity. The probate court therefore distributed the remaining annuity payments under intestate succession to her mother.
Arthur Abrams obtained a child-support order in State A requiring monthly payments for his daughter until she completed college. The daughter turned eighteen and moved to State B, which sets the age of majority at eighteen. The issuing state's order remained enforceable in State B because the definition of child-support order expressly includes a child who has attained the age of majority under the law of the issuing state.
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Albert Allen and Ava Adebayo, both nineteen, moved in together and shared household expenses and a bedroom. Because each had reached the age of majority before beginning to live as a couple, their relationship satisfied the statutory definition of cohabitants. Either party could therefore pursue contractual or equitable claims arising from contributions to the relationship.
Ariana Azizi's genetic mother raised her alone until Ariana turned eighteen. After the mother's death, a class gift in the grandmother's will directed trust principal to the mother's children. Because the genetic mother functioned as a parent before Ariana reached the age of majority, Ariana qualified as a child of the genetic parent for purposes of the class gift.
Alan Ackerman, age seventeen, was convicted of murder and sentenced to death. Because he had not reached the age of majority, the sentence violated the constitutional prohibition on capital punishment for juveniles. The reviewing court vacated the death sentence and imposed life imprisonment without parole.
Avalon Pharmaceuticals sponsored a marketing campaign offering discounted beer to males aged eighteen to twenty but not to females of the same ages. The statute creating different ages of majority for males and females for this purpose was challenged as unconstitutional gender discrimination. The court struck down the statute because the classification was not substantially related to an important governmental objective.
The Restatement sets the age of majority at eighteen unless an applicable statute provides otherwise. A person below that age who is not emancipated is a minor for purposes of donative transfers and contracts.
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Yes. Under the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act a child-support order may apply to a child who has already attained the age of majority under the law of the issuing state.
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A person becomes a cohabitant only after reaching the age of majority or being emancipated. Two individuals who begin living together as a couple before either reaches majority do not qualify.
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A nonmarital child is treated as a child of the genetic parent for class-gift purposes if the genetic parent or certain relatives functioned as a parent before the child reached the age of majority.
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No. A former minor must affirm the contract after reaching majority or fail to disaffirm within a reasonable time. Mere passage of time without action can constitute ratification in some circumstances.
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…gender-based classifications. In Stanton v. Stanton , 421 U.S. 7 (1975), the Court held that a statute that imposed a greater age of majority on males than on females was unconstitutional. The Court held that the statute was not substantially related to the achievement of any important governmental objective. In Weinberger v.…