Nebraska, along with Alabama and Mississippi, is one of the only states to have its age of majority higher than 18 years old. Nebraska’s age of majority of 19 leaves 18 year olds in an unnecessary legal gray area where they are expected to take on major adult responsibilities while still being denied full independence in important parts of their lives. An 18 year old can vote, work, sign binding contracts, rent housing, own property, manage bank accounts, and make some independent medical decisions, yet parents can still remain their legal guardians, some health care decisions can still involve parental authority, marriage can still require parental consent, and existing juvenile or foster care control can continue. This split can make it harder for 18 year olds to exercise full control over their personal lives, or be treated consistently as adults by courts and legal institutions. The result is a system that recognizes 18 year olds as capable of taking on contracts, debt, housing obligations, and other adult responsibilities while still withholding some of the autonomy that should come with those responsibilities.
Young people should have the full legal rights of adulthood at 18 years old, consistently across the country, instead of their legal rights being denied to them just because they happened to be born in one of three states that use a higher age of majority. In the following webpage, the National Youth Rights Association explains the rights of an 18 year old in Nebraska, which rights they still have, and which other rights they lack due to the state’s age of majority.
Table of Contents
- What Nebraska’s Higher Age of Majority Means
- Contractual Rights at 18
- Parental Custody of an 18-Year-Old
- Leaving Home Without Parental Permission at 18
- What Parental Authority Can Continue at 18?
- Property Rights of an 18-Year-Old
- Can Parents Confiscate an 18-Year-Old’s Property as Punishment?
- Wages and Earnings of an 18-Year-Old
- Corporal Punishment of an 18-Year-Old
- Parents’ Continuing Duty to Support an 18-Year-Old
- Could an 18-Year-Old Be Affected by CPS or Dependency Proceedings?
- Do 18-Year-Olds Have to Remain in Foster Care?
- Foster Care After 19: Bridge to Independence
- Medical Rights at 18
- Civil Lawsuits and Court Representation
- Jury Service
- College Residency and In-State Tuition
- Adoption Rights at 18
- Serving as Executor or Administrator of an Estate
- Marriage Rights
- Emancipation Before 19
- Education Records and Privacy Rights at 18
- Important Rights That Already Exist at 18
The National Youth Rights Association
If you’re interested in Youth Rights, consider volunteering with us. We are always looking for new members and would love to have you on board. If you have a personal story to share, how the high age-of-majority in your state negatively impacted your life, or about a general youth rights violation, consider sending us an email at nyra@youthrights.org. We’d love to help get your story out to the world.
What Nebraska’s Higher Age of Majority Means
Nebraska is one of the few states where turning 18 does not automatically give a person full legal majority. Under Nebraska Revised Statute § 43-2101, all people under 19 are minors, unless their minority ends earlier through marriage. A person generally becomes a full legal adult under Nebraska law upon reaching 19.
However, Nebraska has created a number of specific exceptions that give 18-year-olds particular adult rights before they reach the general age of majority. The same § 43-2101 gives most 18-year-olds independent contractual rights, allows them to sign leases and financial agreements, permits them to acquire or transfer real estate, and gives every person 18 or older the right to consent to their own mental health services. Other statutes independently give 18-year-olds rights such as making a will and controlling a bank account.
Nebraska therefore creates an unusual legal period between the eighteenth and nineteenth birthdays. An 18-year-old can vote, sign an apartment lease, own real estate, make a will, and ordinarily face the criminal justice system as an adult, while still remaining a minor for parental guardianship, some medical decisions, marriage, civil litigation, jury eligibility, foster-care jurisdiction, and other areas of state law.
Nebraska law even uses different age boundaries within its juvenile system. Nebraska Revised Statute § 43-245 defines the age of majority as 19, but defines a “juvenile” as a person under 18. An 18-year-old can consequently remain a minor without still being a juvenile for purposes of beginning an ordinary new delinquency, dependency, or status-offense proceeding.
For example, an 18-year-old Nebraska resident could independently sign a legally binding apartment lease and obtain mental health counseling without parental consent, but still need parental consent to obtain a Nebraska marriage license and generally remain subject to parental natural guardianship until 19. The higher age of majority does not postpone every adult right; instead, Nebraska law grants some rights at 18 while leaving others attached to full majority at 19.
Contractual Rights at 18
Contractual capacity is one of the major areas where Nebraska expressly gives 18-year-olds adult rights. Under Nebraska Revised Statute § 43-2101(2)(a), a person who is at least 18 and is not a ward of the state may enter into a binding contract or lease of any kind and is legally responsible for that agreement. The statute also permits an eligible 18-year-old to sign promissory notes, mortgages, deeds of trust, security agreements, financing statements, and other documents creating financial obligations or liens, and to acquire or transfer title to real estate.
An 18-year-old can therefore sign a one-year apartment lease without a parent’s signature. If the tenant later stops paying rent, minority generally cannot be used to avoid the lease merely because the tenant has not yet turned 19. The landlord can treat the agreement as binding in the same manner contemplated by § 43-2101.
The same rule can apply to an 18-year-old who finances a vehicle, signs an employment agreement, contracts for utilities, enters a cell-phone agreement, purchases goods on credit, or signs a mortgage. A business may still impose normal credit requirements, require a deposit, or request a guarantor, but those conditions arise from the business transaction rather than a general legal incapacity to contract.
The contractual exception is especially notable because parental guardianship can continue at the same time. An 18-year-old may possess legal capacity to sign a lease for an apartment even though a parent continues to be the young person’s natural guardian under Nebraska law. Contractual capacity and parental custody therefore do not end at the same age.
The statute also contains an important exception for foster youth and other young people who remain wards of the state. The adult-level contractual rights in § 43-2101(2)(a) expressly apply to an 18-year-old “who is not a ward of the state.” An 18-year-old who remains a DHHS ward therefore does not automatically receive this particular statutory grant of contractual capacity simply by reaching 18.
Parental Custody of an 18-Year-Old
Nebraska parental guardianship generally continues through age 18 because an unmarried 18-year-old remains a minor. Under Nebraska Revised Statute § 30-2608, a child’s father and mother are the natural guardians of their minor children and, when legally competent and otherwise suitable, are entitled to their custody and to direct their education.
Because § 43-2101 keeps an unmarried person in minority until 19, the parental guardianship established by § 30-2608 does not ordinarily terminate on the eighteenth birthday.
For example, an 18-year-old high school senior who still lives with both parents remains their minor child under Nebraska law. The student may independently sign a work contract, control certain financial transactions, and consent to mental health treatment, but the parents continue to hold the legal status of natural guardians.
This distinction can also matter in divorce and custody situations. If an 18-year-old’s parents have an existing custody arrangement, the eighteenth birthday does not automatically transform the person into a full adult under Nebraska law. Parental custody and guardianship can remain legally relevant until 19 unless another event—such as marriage or judicial emancipation—ends the young person’s minority earlier.
At 19, parental custody based solely on the parent-child relationship ends because the person reaches Nebraska’s general age of majority. A competent 19-year-old then decides where to live without being subject to ordinary parental guardianship.
Leaving Home Without Parental Permission at 18
Nebraska’s rules governing an 18-year-old leaving home are unusually complicated because parental custody lasts until 19 while ordinary juvenile status ends at 18. A parent remains the natural guardian of an unmarried, unemancipated 18-year-old under Nebraska Revised Statute § 30-2608. However, Nebraska Revised Statute § 43-245 defines a “juvenile” as someone under 18.
That distinction substantially limits Nebraska’s normal runaway and status-offense mechanisms once the person turns 18. Nebraska Revised Statute § 43-247(3)(b) gives juvenile courts jurisdiction over juveniles who are habitually disobedient and uncontrolled by their parents, seriously endanger themselves or others, or are habitually truant from home or school. Because the statute applies to a “juvenile,” a person whose conduct first begins after turning 18 generally does not fit the statutory age definition required for a new proceeding under that provision.
For example, a 17-year-old who repeatedly leaves home without permission could potentially become the subject of a juvenile-court proceeding alleging that the teenager is habitually truant from home or beyond parental control. If an otherwise similar person first leaves home after turning 18, the person remains a minor but is no longer a “juvenile” under § 43-245, preventing the ordinary § 43-247(3)(b) process from being initiated on the same basis.
Existing juvenile-court cases are different. § 43-247(12) allows a juvenile court that already obtained jurisdiction to continue exercising that jurisdiction until the person reaches the age of majority or the court discharges the individual earlier. An 18-year-old who was adjudicated before turning 18 can therefore remain subject to a court order until 19.
Nebraska’s criminal statutes also use age 18 rather than age 19 for several offenses involving interference with parental custody. Nebraska Revised Statute § 28-316 criminalizes taking or enticing a child under 18 from a lawful custodian. Likewise, Nebraska Revised Statute § 28-709 defines the children covered by the contributing-to-delinquency offense as children under 18.
As a result, an adult friend or romantic partner who gives a consenting 18-year-old a ride or permits the 18-year-old to stay in an apartment is not brought within these particular child-custody crimes solely because the parents object. Other laws can still apply if the circumstances involve force, coercion, unlawful restraint, an existing court order, or another independent offense.
A Real Nebraska Example: Madison Gompert
A 2025 Nebraska case illustrates the unusual practical position of an 18-year-old who leaves home. Eighteen-year-old Madison Gompert, a recent high-school graduate from Albion, was initially publicly reported as missing after leaving with an adult boyfriend. According to local reporting, Gompert later personally contacted the Norfolk Police Division, asked officers about her legal options, and informed police that she was safe. Officers met with her and confirmed that she was safe, uninjured, and not being coerced, after which she was no longer treated as missing. The report stated that police did not treat her as a traditional runaway even though Nebraska’s general age of majority is 19.
The case illustrates the practical importance of Nebraska’s separate definitions of minor and juvenile. Parents can retain a legal guardianship relationship with an 18-year-old, but an 18-year-old who voluntarily leaves home is outside the ordinary under-18 runaway/status-offense provisions unless an existing juvenile-court order creates continuing jurisdiction.
What Parental Authority Can Continue at 18?
An unemancipated 18-year-old remains within the parent-child guardianship relationship established by Nebraska law. Under § 30-2608, parents retain legal custody and authority to direct the education of their minor child.
Parental authority at 18 can remain relevant to residence, ordinary physical health-care decisions, supervision, and household rules. Parents can also continue to be legally responsible for supporting the young person until 19.
However, Nebraska has expressly removed parental control in several specific areas. A qualifying 18-year-old can enter binding contracts without parental approval under § 43-2101, and every 18-year-old can independently consent to mental health services. Parents therefore cannot rely on the age-19 rule to invalidate a qualifying 18-year-old’s lease or prevent the 18-year-old from consenting to therapy merely because parental guardianship otherwise continues.
Federal law creates another important limit on parental educational authority. Under the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), rights concerning education records transfer from the parent to the student when the student turns 18, even if state law still considers the student a minor. An 18-year-old Nebraska high school student therefore generally becomes the “eligible student” who holds FERPA rights to inspect records and control many disclosures. Certain exceptions can still permit disclosure to parents, including rules concerning tax dependents.
Nebraska’s age structure therefore divides authority by subject. Parents remain natural guardians, but an 18-year-old independently controls a growing number of legal decisions before the nineteenth birthday.
Property Rights of an 18-Year-Old
Remaining a minor does not prevent an 18-year-old from owning property in Nebraska. State law expressly recognizes that minors can own money, personal property, real estate, and other assets.
Under Nebraska Revised Statute § 30-2630, a court may appoint a conservator when a minor owns money or property requiring management or protection, has business affairs that could be affected by minority, or requires access to funds for support and education. The statute distinguishes ownership by the minor from management by a conservator.
Nebraska gives 18-year-olds particularly strong direct property rights through Nebraska Revised Statute § 30-2603. When a person has a legal duty to pay money or deliver personal property to a minor, the statute allows up to $40,000 per year to be delivered directly to the minor once the minor is 18. Younger minors generally require one of the other methods specified in the statute unless married.
For example, if an 18-year-old is entitled to $15,000 from an inheritance, settlement, or other obligation and no conservatorship prevents use of § 30-2603, Nebraska law permits the money to be delivered directly to the 18-year-old even though the recipient has not yet attained general majority.
If the property is instead delivered to a parent, guardian, or other caretaker for the minor, § 30-2603 places significant restrictions on that adult. The recipient must use the property for the minor’s support and education, may reimburse themselves only for qualifying out-of-pocket expenses, must preserve excess amounts for the minor’s future support, and must turn remaining property over when the minor reaches majority. The adult receiving the property does not acquire unrestricted personal ownership of it.
Nebraska gives an eligible 18-year-old even broader authority over real estate. Under § 43-2101(2)(a), an 18-year-old who is not a ward of the state may independently acquire or convey title to real property and execute mortgages or other security instruments. An 18-year-old can therefore own a house, land, or another real-estate interest in their own name.
Banking law provides another form of independence. Nebraska Revised Statute § 8-135 provides that people regardless of age may become bank depositors and may withdraw deposits made in their names by check, debit card, electronic transfer, online banking, ATM, or other permitted methods. An 18-year-old can therefore maintain and operate an individually held bank account.
Section 8-135 also contains an important limitation: its banking rules do not determine every legal relationship between a minor and another person. The statute protects the bank’s ability to recognize the minor as a depositor, but separate property, guardianship, joint-account, or court-order rules can still determine rights between the 18-year-old and a parent.
Can Parents Confiscate an 18-Year-Old’s Property as Punishment?
Nebraska does not have a general statute providing that parents become the owners of property belonging to their minor children. Parental guardianship and ownership of property are separate legal concepts.
When an item actually belongs to the parent, the parent generally retains the ordinary rights of an owner. A vehicle titled in a parent’s name can remain parental property even when an 18-year-old drives it every day. A phone, computer, furniture, or other object merely loaned to the 18-year-old can likewise remain the parent’s property.
Property legally owned by the 18-year-old presents a different issue. Nebraska’s statutes expressly recognize a minor’s ability to own property, permit qualifying property to be delivered directly to an 18-year-old under § 30-2603, permit qualifying 18-year-olds to own and transfer real estate under § 43-2101, and authorize conservatorships specifically for property owned by a minor under § 30-2630.
For example, if an 18-year-old uses personal savings to purchase a laptop and the laptop is legally the young person’s property, the parent’s continued guardianship does not itself transfer ownership of the laptop to the parent. Likewise, a car titled in the 18-year-old’s own name remains legally distinct from a car titled to the parent.
Temporary restriction and permanent appropriation also involve different property interests. Nebraska law does not contain a specific modern statute defining exactly when a parent may temporarily take possession of an independently owned phone, computer, or other item from an 18-year-old as household discipline. The parent’s continuing natural guardianship can remain relevant to supervision, but the property continues to be owned by the 18-year-old unless some separate legal rule changes ownership.
A parent permanently selling independently owned property and keeping the proceeds presents a substantially different issue. Nebraska’s guardianship and conservatorship statutes consistently treat authority to manage a minor’s property as authority exercised for the minor, not as a transfer of the minor’s assets into the adult’s personal estate. Even under the explicit property-management arrangement in § 30-2603, an adult receiving property for the minor must preserve excess funds and later transfer the remaining property to the minor.
The same distinction applies to destruction. If a parent destroys an independently owned phone or computer, the object does not become parent-owned property merely because it was destroyed as punishment. Ownership and parental disciplinary authority remain separate legal questions.
Bank accounts provide a particularly useful example. Under § 8-135, an 18-year-old can hold and withdraw money from an account in their own name. A parent does not automatically become a joint owner of that account because the depositor remains a minor. If the account was opened jointly with a parent, however, the bank agreement may independently give the parent withdrawal rights.
Wages and Earnings of an 18-Year-Old
Nebraska’s law concerning a minor’s wages has changed significantly over time.
Older Nebraska law expressly stated that parents were entitled to the “services and earnings” of their minor children. The Nebraska Supreme Court quoted that former statute in Baumann v. Baumann in 1960. The statute then provided that parents were natural guardians and were entitled to their children’s custody, services, earnings, and education.
The modern natural-guardianship statute no longer contains that language. Current Nebraska Revised Statute § 30-2608 states that parents are natural guardians entitled to custody and to direct their minor children’s education, but it does not expressly grant parents ownership of the child’s “services and earnings.”
Current law also gives 18-year-olds substantial independent financial authority. An 18-year-old who is not a state ward may independently enter a binding employment contract under § 43-2101. The parent does not need to sign the employment agreement merely because the worker is under 19.
An 18-year-old can also maintain an individual bank account under § 8-135 and personally initiate withdrawals from it. For example, an 18-year-old working 30 hours per week could have each paycheck directly deposited into a checking account held solely in the employee’s name and use a debit card or electronic transfer to access the money.
Section 8-135 does not itself resolve every parent-child ownership dispute because the statute expressly preserves legal relationships between minors and other people. It does, however, mean that a Nebraska bank may recognize the 18-year-old as the depositor and permit the 18-year-old to control withdrawals without requiring the parent to act on the account.
A joint bank account can produce a different result. If an 18-year-old’s checking account lists a parent as a joint owner, the parent’s authority to make withdrawals may arise from the account agreement. That authority is different from a general parental right to seize wages.
Money already used to purchase separate property can also create a more straightforward ownership question. If an 18-year-old earns $1,500 at work and purchases a computer in their own name, the computer can constitute personal property owned by the 18-year-old. If the person uses savings as a down payment on real estate, § 43-2101 expressly recognizes an eligible 18-year-old’s ability to acquire title.
Nebraska’s emancipation law makes the young person’s control of earnings explicit. Nebraska Revised Statute § 43-4809 requires courts to explain that one consequence of emancipation is the right to keep and spend one’s own money.
The present statutory framework therefore differs substantially from the older statute quoted in Baumann. Current Nebraska law does not expressly grant parents a categorical right to take all wages earned by an unemancipated 18-year-old, while 18-year-olds have express authority to contract, receive certain property directly, and operate individual bank accounts. The precise continued scope of older common-law parental claims to a minor’s earnings has not been clearly defined in a recent Nebraska appellate decision applying the modern statutory structure to an 18-year-old.
Corporal Punishment of an 18-Year-Old
Nebraska’s higher age of majority also creates an unusual issue involving parental physical discipline.
Under Nebraska Revised Statute § 28-1413, a parent, guardian, or other person responsible for the general care and supervision of a minor can assert a criminal-law justification for physical force used to safeguard or promote the minor’s welfare, including preventing or punishing misconduct. The statute excludes force designed or known to create a substantial risk of death, serious bodily harm, disfigurement, extreme pain or mental distress, or gross degradation.
Because § 43-2101 generally declares people under 19 to be minors, an ordinary 18-year-old falls within Nebraska’s general concept of minority. This provides a statutory basis for § 28-1413 to potentially apply to parental discipline involving an 18-year-old. Nebraska appellate decisions located in connection with the statute do not appear to squarely address a case involving an 18-year-old child.
The Nebraska Court of Appeals has also clarified that § 28-1413 is a defense against criminal liability rather than an affirmative legal right to use corporal punishment. The official annotations cite State v. Nguth for that principle. In State v. Kilgore, the court described the statute as codifying the traditional defense for moderate and reasonable correction and held that whether particular force is protected can present a factual question.
For example, if a parent is charged after physically striking an 18-year-old during an attempted disciplinary punishment, the continuing legal status of the 18-year-old as a minor can make § 28-1413 relevant to the criminal case. The defense would still be limited by the nature and severity of the force.
Force creating a substantial risk of serious bodily injury, disfigurement, extreme pain, severe mental distress, or gross degradation falls outside the protection described in § 28-1413. Nebraska’s age-19 majority therefore does not provide unlimited parental authority to use physical violence against an 18-year-old.
Parents’ Continuing Duty to Support an 18-Year-Old
Nebraska’s higher age of majority extends parental financial obligations as well as parental authority.
Under Nebraska Revised Statute § 42-371.01, a court-ordered child-support obligation ordinarily terminates when the child reaches 19, marries, dies, or is judicially emancipated, unless the support order specifically provides otherwise. An eighteenth birthday is not one of the statutory termination events.
For example, a divorced parent paying support for an 18-year-old high school senior generally remains obligated to pay under the child-support order after the student’s eighteenth birthday. Assuming no marriage, emancipation, death, or different provision in the order, age-based termination occurs at 19.
The parental support obligation therefore corresponds with Nebraska’s continuing recognition of the person as a minor. Parents may retain guardianship and custody rights during the eighteenth year, but they also continue to bear legal support obligations associated with minority.
Judicial emancipation changes both sides of this relationship. Under § 43-4809, an emancipated minor loses the ordinary right to have parents or guardians financially provide basic living expenses such as food, clothing, shelter, and health care.
Could an 18-Year-Old Be Affected by CPS or Dependency Proceedings?
Nebraska’s child-protection system creates another unusual split between CPS involvement and juvenile-court dependency jurisdiction.
The Nebraska Child Protection and Family Safety Act defines child abuse or neglect in Nebraska Revised Statute § 28-710 as specified harmful conduct involving a minor child. Because Nebraska’s general age-of-majority statute declares people under 19 to be minors, an 18-year-old can still fall within the state’s child-abuse reporting and investigation system.
The current child-protection statutes make this especially explicit. Nebraska Revised Statute § 28-713.01 contains special procedures for a subject of a child-abuse or neglect report who is a minor child age 12 or older but younger than 19. This confirms that the administrative child-protection system can directly involve an 18-year-old.
For example, if an 18-year-old reports that a parent is withholding necessary food, cruelly punishing them, or placing their physical or mental health in danger, a child-abuse report can still fall within Nebraska’s Child Protection and Family Safety Act. Nebraska Revised Statute § 28-711 requires reports when a person has reasonable cause to believe a child has been subjected to abuse or neglect.
However, a new juvenile-court dependency proceeding has a different age boundary. § 43-247(3)(a) gives juvenile courts dependency jurisdiction over abused, neglected, abandoned, or inadequately supported juveniles, while § 43-245 defines “juvenile” as a person under 18. A person whose situation first becomes the subject of court action after the eighteenth birthday therefore generally does not fit the age definition for a new § 43-247(3)(a) dependency adjudication.
Existing cases can continue. If a young person was adjudicated dependent before turning 18, § 43-247(12) allows the juvenile court to continue jurisdiction until the person reaches majority at 19 or is discharged earlier.
This can produce three different legal statuses for an 18-year-old:
An 18-year-old with no existing juvenile case can still be the subject of a CPS abuse or neglect report and DHHS investigation because Nebraska child-protection law reaches minor children under 19.
An 18-year-old generally cannot be newly adjudicated as a dependent “juvenile” under § 43-247(3)(a) based on conduct arising for the first time after 18 because the Juvenile Code defines a juvenile as under 18.
An 18-year-old who was already adjudicated before the eighteenth birthday can remain under continuing juvenile-court jurisdiction until 19.
There can also be overlap with Adult Protective Services in particular cases. Nebraska DHHS states that APS can serve people 18 or older who have a substantial functional or mental impairment or who have a guardian appointed under the Nebraska Probate Code and who are experiencing abuse, neglect, exploitation, or self-neglect. Nebraska therefore has circumstances in which an 18-year-old remains a minor for child-protection purposes while simultaneously being old enough to qualify as a vulnerable adult under APS law.
Do 18-Year-Olds Have to Remain in Foster Care?
An 18-year-old who was already placed in Nebraska foster care does not automatically age out on the eighteenth birthday.
When a juvenile court awards a juvenile to DHHS, Nebraska Revised Statute § 43-285 provides that the juvenile generally becomes a ward subject to the legal custody and care of the department. DHHS, with the assent of the court, has authority concerning placement, care, medical services, psychiatric services, and other matters.
Because juvenile-court jurisdiction can continue until the age of majority under § 43-247(12), an 18-year-old who was already adjudicated and placed in foster care can remain a ward until 19 unless the court discharges the person earlier. Turning 18 by itself does not terminate the underlying custody order.
For example, an 18-year-old who has lived with foster parents since age 16 cannot assume that the foster-care order disappears at midnight on the eighteenth birthday. If juvenile-court jurisdiction and DHHS custody remain in effect, the legal placement continues until the court changes or ends it or until jurisdiction terminates at majority.
That does not require every 18-year-old ward to remain in the same foster home. Nebraska’s foster-care statutes require planning for the transition to adulthood and permit placement decisions to change. A young person approaching majority may move to another foster placement, an independent-living arrangement, or another approved setting depending on the court order and case plan.
An 18-year-old foster youth also has a particularly important contractual limitation. Because the special 18-year-old contractual rights in § 43-2101(2)(a) apply only to a person who is not a ward of the state, a foster youth who remains a state ward does not receive that automatic contractual exception at 18.
Foster Care After 19: Bridge to Independence
At 19, ordinary minority and juvenile-court jurisdiction based solely on age end, but Nebraska provides a voluntary extended-care program known as Bridge to Independence.
Under Nebraska Revised Statute § 43-4503, the normal age of eligibility for Bridge to Independence is 19, with a separate provision for certain young adults who reach majority at 18 under tribal law. The statute allows supervised independent living settings such as apartments, houses, host homes, college dormitories, and other postsecondary or vocational housing.
Participation is expressly voluntary under Nebraska Revised Statute § 43-4504. Nebraska DHHS describes Bridge to Independence as a voluntary program for qualifying young adults ages 19 through 21 that can provide a caseworker, health-care assistance when eligible, and a monthly payment.
An 18-year-old still under juvenile-court jurisdiction is therefore in a different legal position from a 19-year-old participating in Bridge to Independence. At 18, an existing foster-care placement can still be based on the juvenile court’s legal custody order. At 19, qualifying continued services through Bridge to Independence are based on the young adult’s voluntary participation.
Nebraska also provides continuing health coverage to many former foster youth. DHHS states that qualifying young people who were in foster care and receiving Medicaid at age 18 or older can receive former-foster-care Medicaid coverage until age 26.
Medical Rights at 18
Nebraska does not treat all medical autonomy decisions alike at 18. One right is explicit: under Nebraska Revised Statute § 43-2101(2)(b), any person 18 or older may consent to mental health services without the consent of a parent or guardian. This right applies even though the person remains a minor for general purposes.
An 18-year-old can therefore independently seek therapy or other qualifying mental health services despite parental objections.
Ordinary physical health care is different. Nebraska Revised Statute § 30-2604 specifically allows the parent or guardian of a minor who is at least 18 and not a state ward to execute a power of attorney delegating to the 18-year-old, for up to one year, the parent’s or guardian’s power to consent to the young person’s own health care and medical treatment. The existence of this specific delegation mechanism reflects the continued significance of parental medical-consent authority before 19.
For example, parents of an 18-year-old college student could execute this power of attorney so that the student can independently consent to ordinary medical treatment while living away from home.
Nebraska considered eliminating this distinction in 2025–26. LB 369 was introduced to allow people 18 years old to make their own general health-care decisions, but the bill was indefinitely postponed on April 17, 2026 and did not become law.
Nebraska law nevertheless gives 18-year-olds certain additional medical powers. Under Nebraska Revised Statute § 30-3402, a person 18 or older is an “adult” for purposes of Nebraska’s Health Care Power of Attorney Act, allowing an 18-year-old to execute a qualifying health-care power of attorney designating another adult to make health-care decisions if the principal becomes incapable.
Other medical laws use still different ages. For example, Nebraska Revised Statute § 71-6902 imposes parental-consent requirements for abortion specifically when the pregnant patient is under 18, meaning that particular parental-consent provision does not apply to an 18-year-old, although Nebraska’s separate abortion restrictions remain applicable.
By contrast, Nebraska’s advance mental-health-directive law defines a principal as someone 19 or older in Nebraska Revised Statute § 30-4404, and the Rights of the Terminally Ill Act generally defines an adult as someone 19 or older or someone who is or has been married in Nebraska Revised Statute § 20-403.
An 18-year-old can therefore possess independent authority over mental-health treatment and some other medical matters while still lacking the full medical status Nebraska assigns at 19.
Civil Lawsuits and Court Representation
Nebraska’s higher age of majority can also prevent an ordinary 18-year-old from litigating entirely in their own name.
Under Nebraska Revised Statute § 25-307, subject to specified statutory exceptions, an action belonging to an “infant” must be commenced, maintained, and prosecuted by the minor’s guardian or next friend. The Nebraska Supreme Court has interpreted the statute as recognizing the common-law rule that a minor lacks independent legal capacity to sue.
Because an ordinary 18-year-old remains a minor until 19, this can apply even when the underlying dispute concerns a contract the 18-year-old had full legal power to sign.
For example, an 18-year-old can independently sign a valid apartment lease under § 43-2101. If a serious dispute later develops and the tenant wants to file a civil lawsuit against the landlord, the validity of the lease and the young person’s procedural capacity to litigate are separate issues. Section 25-307 can still require use of a guardian or next friend unless another statutory exception applies.
Judicial emancipation eliminates this disability. Nebraska Revised Statute § 43-4810 expressly removes the disability of minority concerning the litigation and settlement of controversies, allowing an emancipated minor to act as an adult for those purposes.
Jury Service
An 18-year-old cannot serve on a Nebraska jury.
Under Nebraska Revised Statute § 25-1650, Nebraska’s statutory juror qualifications require a person to be over the age of 19, along with satisfying citizenship, residency, language, and other requirements. An 18-year-old therefore clearly falls below Nebraska’s jury-service age.
This produces an unusual contrast with other legal rights. An 18-year-old can vote in Nebraska elections and ordinarily falls outside the Nebraska Juvenile Code’s under-18 definition of a juvenile for newly committed criminal conduct, yet remains too young to sit on a grand or petit jury.
An 18-year-old can therefore be prosecuted through the adult criminal system and have a case decided by jurors while being statutorily ineligible to serve as one of those jurors.
College Residency and In-State Tuition
Nebraska’s age of majority can directly affect how an 18-year-old is classified for public-university tuition.
The University of Nebraska–Lincoln residency policy expressly defines a “Dependent Minor” as someone less than 19 years old. Under that classification, residency is generally tied to a parent or guardian who has established a Nebraska home and to dependency for federal tax purposes. A separate category exists for a legal-age resident or an emancipated minor.
For example, an 18-year-old whose parents live in Colorado might move to Nebraska, rent an apartment, obtain employment, register a vehicle, and begin attending college. The student’s physical independence does not necessarily require the university to treat the student as a legal-age independent resident for tuition purposes. The university’s dependent-minor rules can still examine the parent’s or guardian’s residency until the student reaches Nebraska’s legal age or qualifies under another residency category.
An emancipated 18-year-old can occupy a different category because the UNL residency policy separately recognizes emancipated minors.
The practical consequence can be substantial because residency classification determines whether the student pays resident or nonresident tuition.
Adoption Rights at 18
Nebraska’s current adoption age law requires a person seeking to adopt a minor child to be an adult person. Under the current version of Nebraska Revised Statute § 43-101, effective July 18, 2026, a minor child may generally be adopted by an adult person or persons, subject to the other requirements of the adoption statutes.
An ordinary unmarried 18-year-old remains a minor under § 43-2101 and therefore does not become an “adult person” merely by reaching 18.
For example, an unmarried, unemancipated 18-year-old who wants to petition to adopt a younger relative would not satisfy the adoption statute’s adult-age requirement solely because the petitioner had turned 18.
Marriage changes general minority because § 43-2101 expressly provides that a person’s minority ends upon marriage. The consequences of judicial emancipation are somewhat more specifically defined: § 43-4810 treats an emancipated minor as an adult for an enumerated set of purposes, but adoption is not specifically included in that list.
Serving as Executor or Administrator of an Estate
Nebraska creates a clear distinction between an 18-year-old’s ability to make a will and the ability to administer another person’s estate.
Under Nebraska Revised Statute § 30-2326, anyone who is 18 or older and of sound mind may make a valid will disposing of personal and real property. An 18-year-old therefore has testamentary capacity.
However, Nebraska Revised Statute § 30-2412(f) provides that a person under 19 is not qualified to serve as a personal representative of an estate. A personal representative performs the role traditionally called an executor or administrator.
For example, an 18-year-old can write a legally valid will naming another person to administer the estate. If the same 18-year-old is named as executor in a grandparent’s will and the grandparent dies before the young person reaches 19, the 18-year-old cannot qualify as personal representative at that age.
Nebraska gives the 18-year-old some authority despite that disqualification. Section 30-2412 allows a person 18 or older who would otherwise have priority to serve but is disqualified because of age to nominate a qualified person to serve instead or to renounce the right to appointment.
Marriage Rights
Marriage is one of the most significant areas where Nebraska’s age-19 majority directly restricts an 18-year-old.
Under current Nebraska Revised Statute § 42-102, Nebraska’s minimum marriage age remains 17. However, Nebraska Revised Statute § 42-105 provides that when either person seeking a marriage license is a minor, the license cannot be issued without the required written and sworn consent from a parent, custodial parent, guardian, conservator, or other authorized custodian.
Because an unmarried 18-year-old remains a minor until 19, an ordinary 18-year-old still falls within the parental-consent requirement.
For example, two 18-year-olds can independently sign a lease for an apartment together under § 43-2101, but they ordinarily cannot obtain a Nebraska marriage license without the consent required by § 42-105.
Nebraska lawmakers considered changing this in 2026. LB 984 would have required both marriage applicants to be at least 18 and would have repealed the existing parental-consent provision, but the bill was indefinitely postponed on April 17, 2026. The existing statutory structure therefore remains in effect.
Marriage has an unusually large consequence once it occurs. Under § 43-2101(1), marriage ends minority even when the person is younger than 19. A validly married 18-year-old therefore ceases to be a minor under Nebraska’s general age-of-majority law.
Emancipation Before 19
Nebraska provides a formal emancipation judicial procedure through which some minors can obtain many adult rights without waiting until 19.
Under Nebraska Revised Statute § 43-4802, a Nebraska resident who is at least 16 and who is married or living apart from their parents or legal guardian may personally petition the district court for emancipation.
The minor bears the burden of proving the statutory requirements by clear and convincing evidence. Under § 43-4809, the court must determine that emancipation is in the minor’s best interests and that the minor understands the legal rights and responsibilities that will result.
Nebraska’s emancipation statute is unusually explicit about the resulting rights. Section 43-4809 requires the court to explain that emancipation provides rights including:
- Handling one’s own affairs and choosing where to live.
- Entering contracts.
- Keeping and spending one’s own money.
- Making one’s own medical, dental, and mental-health decisions without parental knowledge.
- Enlisting in the military without parental consent.
- Marrying without parental consent.
- Applying for public assistance.
- Suing and being sued.
- Enrolling in school or college.
- Owning real property.
The legal effect is further defined by Nebraska Revised Statute § 43-4810. The judgment removes the disabilities of minority concerning residence, contracts and debts, medical and dental care, marriage, public assistance, litigation, education, and property. For those purposes, the emancipated minor is treated as an adult.
Emancipation also changes the legal relationship with the parents. Unless the judgment states otherwise, § 43-4810 requires the judgment to suspend existing orders concerning custody, parenting time, and child support. Section 43-4809 separately explains that an emancipated minor loses the ordinary right to require parents to provide food, clothing, shelter, and health-care expenses.
For an independently living 18-year-old, emancipation can therefore remove many of the remaining legal restrictions created by Nebraska’s age-19 rule several months before the nineteenth birthday.
Education Records and Privacy Rights at 18
Although Nebraska continues to classify an 18-year-old as a minor, federal education-privacy law treats the eighteenth birthday as an important point of independence.
The U.S. Department of Education explains that under FERPA, when a student turns 18 or attends a postsecondary institution at any age, the student becomes an “eligible student,” and FERPA rights that previously belonged to the parent transfer to the student.
This applies even to an 18-year-old who is still attending high school in Nebraska. The student generally obtains the right to inspect educational records, seek corrections, and control many disclosures of personally identifiable information.
The transfer is not absolute in every circumstance. Federal rules permit schools to disclose records to parents without the student’s consent in some situations, including when the student is a dependent for federal income-tax purposes. Foster-care disclosure rules can also continue to permit disclosure to a child-welfare agency that remains legally responsible for an 18-year-old student.
This creates another division between state and federal law: Nebraska parents can remain natural guardians with authority to direct the education of an 18-year-old minor, while federal law simultaneously transfers control over the student’s education records to the 18-year-old.
Important Rights That Already Exist at 18
Despite remaining a minor under Nebraska’s general law, an 18-year-old already possesses many significant adult rights.
An 18-year-old can vote in federal, state, and local elections under federal constitutional law. An eligible 18-year-old who is not a state ward can enter binding contracts and leases, sign loans and security agreements, and acquire or convey real estate under Nebraska Revised Statute § 43-2101. Every 18-year-old can independently consent to mental health services under the same statute.
An 18-year-old can make a valid will under Nebraska Revised Statute § 30-2326 and can be a bank depositor who directly controls withdrawals under Nebraska Revised Statute § 8-135.
An 18-year-old can also execute a health-care power of attorney under Nebraska’s Health Care Power of Attorney Act because § 30-3402 defines an adult for that statute as someone 18 or older.
Federal FERPA rights transfer to an 18-year-old student even when Nebraska parental guardianship remains intact.
An 18-year-old is also ordinarily outside the Nebraska Juvenile Code’s definition of a juvenile for newly committed misconduct because § 43-245 defines a juvenile as a person under 18.
At the same time, the higher age of majority continues to affect an 18-year-old’s legal status in significant areas. Parents ordinarily remain natural guardians. A qualifying existing juvenile or foster-care case can continue. A new CPS investigation can still involve an 18-year-old minor even though a new juvenile dependency adjudication generally cannot. Parental consent ordinarily remains necessary for a Nebraska marriage license. Full independent medical consent is not universally available for physical health care. Civil lawsuits can require a guardian or next friend. An 18-year-old cannot serve as a Nebraska juror or personal representative of an estate and does not ordinarily qualify as an adult adoptive petitioner merely because of turning 18.
Nebraska therefore treats the period from 18 to 19 as a genuine intermediate legal year: an 18-year-old has extensive independent contractual, financial, mental-health, educational-privacy, and property rights while still remaining subject to selected legal disabilities and parental relationships that do not end until 19, marriage, emancipation, or another applicable legal event.
