Also known as: children · minor · juvenile
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
2 senses
A person who has not reached the age of majority.
A biological or adopted offspring of a parent for purposes of support, custody, inheritance, and related family obligations.
A person who has not reached the age of majority.
Cameron Cruz sues Charles Cunningham for breach of a promissory note in the amount of $45,000. Cunningham fails to appear or answer the complaint. Because the claim is for a sum certain and Cunningham is an adult who is neither a minor nor incompetent, the clerk enters judgment for the full amount plus costs upon Cruz's affidavit.
Judge Catherine Carter learns that her minor child owns stock in a corporation that is a party to a pending contract dispute. The judge immediately discloses the economic interest and recuses herself from the case to avoid any appearance of partiality.
A biological or adopted offspring of a parent for purposes of support, custody, inheritance, and related family obligations.
Attorney Christopher Collins prepares a will for client Caleb Chang that leaves a substantial bequest to Collins's own adult child. Because the recipient is not related to Chang, the preparation violates the prohibition on drafting instruments that confer substantial gifts to the lawyer's family members.
State law prohibits unmarried adults from obtaining contraceptives while allowing married couples to do so. A single woman denied access challenges the statute, asserting that the right to decide whether to bear or beget a child belongs to the individual regardless of marital status.
Each sense below has its own examples, sources, and questions.
Twelve-year-old Christian Coleman rides his bicycle into the path of a delivery truck owned by Canyon Construction. Because Coleman is a child, the court measures his conduct against the standard of a reasonably prudent child of the same age and experience rather than that of an adult.
A court in State A issues a custody determination granting primary physical custody of a seven-year-old to one parent after proper service and opportunity to be heard. The order conclusively resolves all issues of custody between the served parties and may be enforced in other states under the uniform act.
A child reaches the age of majority at 18 in nearly all states and may then enter binding contracts. Until that age the minor may disaffirm most contracts as a defense of infancy.
A child is held to the standard of a reasonably prudent person of the same age and experience rather than an adult standard, unless the child is engaged in an adult activity such as driving.
Yes. A judge must recuse when the judge knows that the judge's child or any family member residing in the household has an economic interest in the subject matter or a party to the proceeding.
Yes. Legal adoption creates the same parent-child relationship as biological birth for purposes of intestate succession and class gifts, so an adopted child qualifies as a descendant of the adoptive parent.
An unmarried father who has established a custodial relationship with his nonmarital child possesses constitutionally protected parental rights that cannot be terminated without due process.
…of their community on a nonsegregated basis. In each instance they had been denied admission to schools attended by white children under laws requiring or permitting segregation according to race. This segregation was alleged to deprive the plaintiffs of the equal protection of the laws under the Fourteenth Amendment.…