I’m starting up a side business which involves helping students improve their papers. I concieved of this as a business oriented toward college students. However, last night a high school student sent me a paper to look at.
My question is this. Are there any legal problems with me doing business with a high schooler (he’s a junior, so he’s probably not 18 yet) without talking to his parents? At the moment, it happens that I’m not charging to look at papers. Does that make it less of a problem? If I were charging, would that make it more of a problem?
Do I need to require people to state their 18 or over in their emails when they send me their papers or something?
Once you start charging, you should know about the contract doctrine of infancy. At common law “infants” (meaning anyone who hadn’t reached the age of majority, even teenagers) were permitted to repudiate contracts whenever they wanted. They had to give back what they purchased if possible but if it wasn’t possible, they could still just get out of paying. That’s been pretty heavily modified in most states since then, but for a service business it might still impact you in some way.
In terms of issues with the contact of minors, there might be dangers there. It’s not my area. You might consider whether it’s worth it to restrict you business to adults simply as a prophylactic measure so you don’t have to worry about stuff like this.