In most of the United States, you have to be 18 to file a lawsuit on your own. A few states set the age at 19, and one sets it at 21.1Cornell Law Institute. Age of Majority Being younger than that does not mean you have no case. It means an adult has to bring the lawsuit for you, and the court applies special rules to protect both your right to sue and any money you recover.
The Age Cutoff and Its One Exception
The threshold is the “age of majority,” the point at which someone gains full legal rights as an adult. Below that age, a person is a minor and lacks legal capacity to file a lawsuit, sign a binding contract, or make other major legal decisions independently.
The exception is emancipation. A court can declare a minor emancipated, which grants most adult rights, including the ability to sue or be sued directly.2Cornell Law Institute. Emancipation of Minors Emancipation usually requires showing financial self-sufficiency and enough maturity to justify early independence. Some states also treat marriage or military enlistment as automatic emancipation. Once emancipated, you no longer need an adult to act for you in court.
How a Minor Actually Files a Lawsuit
Because a minor cannot file directly, federal and state rules provide a workaround: an adult files the lawsuit and manages it on the child’s behalf. Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 17(c), a minor with a general guardian sues through that guardian. If none has been appointed, the minor sues through a “next friend” or a court-appointed guardian ad litem.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 17 – Parties Plaintiff and Defendant; Capacity State courts use the same basic structure.
In practice, a parent almost always takes the next-friend role. The next friend is not a party to the lawsuit and is not a formally appointed guardian. The court treats that person as an agent whose only job is to protect the child’s interests.4Cornell Law School. Next Friend A guardian ad litem is appointed instead when no parent can serve, or when the parent’s interests conflict with the child’s, such as when the injury was caused by the parent’s own negligence.
Even with an adult running the case, the minor is the actual plaintiff. Every strategic decision, from choice of attorney to whether to accept a settlement, has to serve the child’s best interest rather than the adult’s convenience.
Filing Deadlines and How They Change for Minors
Every lawsuit has a statute of limitations, a deadline after which the right to sue disappears. For adults, the clock usually starts on the date of the injury. For minors, most states apply a rule called tolling that pauses the clock until the child reaches the age of majority. A child should not lose legal rights because the adults around them failed to act.
Tolling can push deadlines out substantially. If a state gives adults two years to file a personal injury claim and a 10-year-old is hurt, the two-year clock does not start running until the child turns 18, giving them until age 20 to file. Tolling is not universal, though, and two kinds of claims come with much shorter fuses.
Medical Malpractice
Many states impose a “statute of repose” on medical malpractice claims. That kind of deadline is measured from the date of the medical error itself, and it applies regardless of when the injury was discovered or how old the patient is. Repose periods often override the normal tolling rule for minors. A child injured by malpractice at birth can find the claim barred years before turning 18. Some states carve out limited extensions for very young children, and others do not. If you suspect malpractice, do not assume tolling will save the case.
Claims Against the Government
Lawsuits against government entities carry their own accelerated deadlines, and a child’s age often provides no protection. Under the Federal Tort Claims Act, the claim must be filed with the responsible federal agency within two years of the injury. The statute has no tolling provision for minors, so a two-year-old hurt by federal negligence has the same deadline as an adult.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 U.S. Code 2401 – Time for Commencing Action Against United States State government tort claim rules vary. Some toll for minors; some require notice within as little as six months regardless of age. Injuries involving a public school, a government employee, or any government agency should be treated as urgent.
When the Defendant Is a Parent
An older doctrine called parental immunity historically prevented children from suing their own parents for negligence, on the theory that lawsuits would disrupt family harmony. That reasoning has eroded. Most states have abolished or sharply limited the doctrine, particularly in situations where insurance covers the claim and no family savings are at stake. Suits against parents for car accidents, dangerous property conditions, and business-related activities now proceed routinely.
Parental immunity has never shielded intentional or criminal conduct by a parent. The remaining gray area is ordinary negligence during parenting itself, where some states still grant limited immunity for supervision judgments and discipline choices. When a child does sue a parent, the court appoints a guardian ad litem to represent the child, since the parent being sued cannot also stand in for the child.
Court Approval Before Anyone Sees the Money
If a lawsuit brought on a minor’s behalf produces a settlement or verdict, the money does not go straight to the child or the parents. The court first has to approve the outcome in a proceeding often called a minor’s compromise hearing. A judge reviews the settlement terms, checks that attorney’s fees are reasonable, and confirms that the arrangement actually serves the child.
Once approved, the funds are placed into a protected arrangement until the child turns 18. Common options include:
- A blocked bank account, meaning a restricted account no one can touch until the child reaches adulthood.
- A structured settlement annuity, purchased from an insurance company and paid out in scheduled installments, either starting immediately for ongoing expenses or deferred until later.
- A trust managed by a trustee under court-defined rules, with distributions tied to the child’s needs. For a child with a disability, a special needs trust can hold the money without disqualifying the child from Medicaid and other means-tested benefits.
The funds are generally locked until the child is an adult, but a guardian can petition the court to release money early for expenses directly tied to the child’s health, education, or welfare. Judges scrutinize those requests, and withdrawals that benefit the parent rather than the child are not permitted.
Taxes on a Minor’s Recovery
Tax rules for lawsuit money do not change based on the plaintiff’s age. Under federal law, damages for personal physical injuries or physical sickness are excluded from gross income, whether paid as a lump sum or in installments.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 104 – Compensation for Injuries or Sickness That exclusion covers compensatory damages tied to a physical injury, including reimbursement for medical bills and lost future earnings.
Two categories remain taxable even for a child. Punitive damages, which punish the defendant rather than compensate the victim, are included in gross income, with a narrow exception for certain wrongful death cases.7Internal Revenue Service. Tax Implications of Settlements and Judgments Damages for emotional distress not tied to a physical injury are also taxable. If a settlement mixes physical injury damages with taxable components, the taxable portion has to be reported on the child’s return, and the guardian managing the funds should plan for that bill before the money gets locked into a restricted account.