Rachel Canning, a cheerleader and lacrosse player at Morris Catholic High School who has aspirations to be a biomedical engineer, filed a lawsuit last week in the Family Part of state Superior Court in Morristown that seeks a judge's declaration that she is nonemancipated and dependent as a student on her parents for support.
"A child is not emancipated until they're on their own," Simon said. "Even if a child and the parents don't get along, that doesn't relieve the parents of their responsibility." Laufer noted that under New Jersey law, a child can still be declared nonemancipated even if there is a hiatus between high school graduation and college.
Attorney Laurie Rush-Masuret, who represents the parents, said in court papers that Rachel emancipated herself and removed herself from her parent's "sphere of influence" by voluntarily moving out of their house "as she did not want to abide by her parents' rules...."