Should Alabama Lower Its Age of Majority?

Thanks to my friend Noah Funderburg for word of this one. The Alabama House Judiciary Committee is meeting today to consider reducing Alabama’s age of majority from 19 to 18. The proposal the committee is studying today would change any law that now says “under the age of 21 years” or “under the age of 19 years” to read “under the age of 18 years.”

You can read the bill, HB64, on ALISON. Click on “Bills,” then “Status,” and type in “HB64” as the Bill Number. Then click on the button that says “HB64” and then click “View” in the ribbon above the bill. There’s a companion bill, SB198.

HB64 has an exception for the sale of tobacco and alcohol, and it also says it will not have any effect on child support or on health insurance for minor children.

I’m not aware of any groundswell of enthusiasm for this. Is it coming from used car salesmen who want to sell cars to kids and make sure they’re liable? Maybe from banks who want to get Visa cards in the hands of high school kids? Beats me.

102 thoughts on “Should Alabama Lower Its Age of Majority?”

  1. My daughter will be 13 Im Jan., in Oct 2011, when she was 9 years old, I had DHR called on me bc I was recreational using. During this time she was spending the week with her father and I was arrested for truancy for her having 10 unexcused absences. I spent 10 days in jail and because of the DHR case I was put on a safety plan. This was in June, he filed abandonment and I was not able to see my daughter until October. DHR told me there was nothing they could do unless I signed temp joint custody and he would have to let me see her. During this time I left the abusive marriage I was in, went to rehab and got my life together. My little girl wants to come back home to mommy now, but my attorney says there is no way, unless I can provide a better life for her than her dad can. Her dad makes 70k a year where I am only working part time as a car taker, intending to finish my degree in nursing starting in Jan. Until I graduate he can provide her with material things that I can’t but she wants her mother. She sleeps on my arm when she stays with me(we have joint custody now with him as the primary caregiver). Her step mom continues to down grade her older sister and I even though the papers state no immediate family member is to belittle, or talk state negative accusations about the other parent around the child. My question that I am finally getting to is, in Alabama, at what age can she decide she decide who she wants to live with?

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