# Can a minor hire a lawyer and sue someone without parental permission?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-minor-hire-a-lawyer-and-sue-someone-without-parental-permission/180186>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 6, 2003, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-minor-hire-a-lawyer-and-sue-someone-without-parental-permission/180186 "2003-06-06T22:32:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\
**Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-minor-hire-a-lawyer-and-sue-someone-without-parental-permission/180186/1 "2003-06-06T22:32:47Z")

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[Inspired by this thread about the student who sued her school district.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=188963)

\*\*Kalhoun{/B] posted this, arguing that her parents were the real instigators of her legal, er, agressiveness.

> [@](#):
>
> I do think she’s a victim here. Her parents, in a lame attempt to live vicariously through her, are the demons here. They have her believing that business/scholastic success, at any price, is the ultimate goal in life. She’ll probably end up an empty shell of a human being who judges everyone by their bank account. She’ll judge all life’s accomplishments by their “bottom line.” It’s actually very sad.

This inspired some responses I won’t go into here as that thread is still going strong, but raised the question in my mind whether she COULD have done this without their support.

So could a minor have hired an attorney and filed a lawsuit if here parents were unwilling to support her claims? I know there are some special cases where this might happen, if the claim is against the parents, but what about third parties?

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**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\
**Post date:** [June 7, 2003, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-minor-hire-a-lawyer-and-sue-someone-without-parental-permission/180186/2 "2003-06-07T13:30:18Z")

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One bump.

Nobody can answer this?

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**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\
**Post date:** [June 7, 2003, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-minor-hire-a-lawyer-and-sue-someone-without-parental-permission/180186/3 "2003-06-07T14:12:25Z")

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Yes.

However, the first step in such a lawsuit would be for the judge hearing the case to appoint a guardian _ad litem_ - for the purpose of litigation. Usually, that’s one or both parents, but if the parents don’t wish to be, a judge can appoint some other person to act for the minor for the purpose of entering into litigation.