Very interesting! Listen to this...
Lets say a minor receives an inheritance. Since minors cannot administer investments/real estate etc, a common way for this to be handled is a "custodial trust." The property belongs to the minor but is controlled by the account custodian until the minor reaches the age of 21. Well in the state of MD, the custodian can be paid up to $5000/year for for doing this until the minor reaches 18 years of age. (Md. Estates & Trusts Article §13-501).
Combine that with the fact that some states have case law where entering an academy does
not trigger emancipation. For example:
"In Ohio, one court in a support modification action decided that entering an academy is not the same as entering the military. Howard v. Howard, 80 Ohio App. 3d 832, 610 N.E.2d 1152 (1992)
However, courts in other states have decided that enrollment in a military academy is the same as entering active duty with the military. Accord Zuckerman v. Zuckerman, 154 A.D.2d 666, 546 N.Y.S.2d 666 (2nd Dep't 1989) and Porath v. McVey, 884 S.W.2d 692 (Mo. Ct. App. 1994)"
Now add to that, this interesting tidbit:
"In general, a minor who enters the armed forces is likely to be seen as emancipated. This is because the government is considered to now exercise the type of control a parent might otherwise have.
However, in Maryland, there is no specific law declaring a member of the military emancipated from his/her parents."
In other words its open to interpretation. (Could go on in court for a very long time!)
So, pretend for a minute a 17 year old cadet has three younger siblings and and they each had trust accounts being controlled by an unscrupulous account custodian who was paying themselves $20,000/year to administer the trust (4 minors x $5000 as provided by MD law).
Could the cadet seek from the courts the ability to not only control his own trust, but to serve as account custodian to his three younger siblings?
Its a very interesting issue I think. He could seek to do so, but there is case law to support both sides.
You see the length I have to go through to distract myself from wondering why I haven't seen my basic on Webguy????