In California, the age of majority is 18. That’s the birthday the state uses to treat you as a legal adult under Family Code Section 6500, which means contracts you sign are fully binding, your parents stop making legal decisions for you, and you pick up voting rights, jury duty, and control of your own medical and school records.1California Legislative Information. California Family Code FAM – Section 6500 A few adult privileges, though, still wait until 21.
What Actually Changes on Your 18th Birthday
Family Code Section 6500 draws a clean line: under 18 you’re a minor, at 18 you’re an adult. Before that birthday, parents or guardians make most legally binding decisions for you. After it, those decisions are yours.
The contract shift is the one that matters most in daily life. Under Family Code Section 6700, minors can enter into contracts but keep the power to void most of them. That safety net disappears at 18. Every lease, loan, phone plan, and service agreement you sign is now fully enforceable against you, with no age-based escape hatch.
Rights You Pick Up at 18
- Voting in all California elections. If you pre-registered at 16 or 17, your registration activates automatically on your 18th birthday.2California Secretary of State. Who Can Vote in California
- Jury service. You become eligible if you’re a U.S. citizen, understand English well enough to follow a case, and live in the summoning county. A summons isn’t optional, and ignoring one can bring penalties.3Judicial Branch of California. Jury Service
- Marrying without parental consent or a court order.
- Enlisting in the military on your own (17-year-olds can enlist with parental consent).
- Suing and being sued in your own name, without a guardian ad litem.
What Still Waits Until 21
Alcohol and Tobacco
You must be 21 to buy, possess, or consume alcohol in California. Selling or furnishing alcohol to anyone under 21 is a misdemeanor under Business and Professions Code Section 25658.4California Legislative Information. California Code BPC 25658 The same age applies to tobacco and vaping products under Business and Professions Code Section 22962.
Firearms From a Dealer
Licensed firearm dealers in California generally cannot sell any firearm to anyone under 21 under Penal Code Section 27510.5California Legislative Information. California Code PEN 27510 Narrow exceptions exist: if you’re 18 or older with a valid hunting license, you can buy certain long guns that aren’t semiautomatic centerfire rifles, and similar exceptions apply to active-duty military and honorably discharged veterans. For most 18-to-20-year-olds, a dealer purchase isn’t an option.
Credit Cards
You can legally sign a contract at 18, but the federal Credit CARD Act generally stops issuers from approving applicants under 21 unless the applicant shows an independent ability to make minimum payments or has a cosigner.6Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. ECOA – Understanding Age-Based Discrimination in Credit Card Lending Many 18-year-olds end up starting with a debit card or a secured card.
Who Can See Your Records Now
Medical Records
While you’re a minor, your parents generally have access to your medical records as your personal representatives. At 18 that ends. The HIPAA Privacy Rule hands full control of your protected health information to you, and providers can’t share your records with your parents without your written authorization, even if a parent is still paying the insurance premium.7HHS.gov. Personal Representatives and Minors Families often find this out when a parent calls the doctor’s office and gets turned away.
School Records
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act transfers control of education records to the student at 18 or when the student enrolls in a postsecondary institution at any age.8United States Department of Education, Student Privacy Policy Office. An Eligible Student Guide to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) If you turn 18 while still in high school, the school can no longer release your grades or discipline records to your parents without your consent.
Money Changes That Hit Right Away
Child Support Generally Ends
Court-ordered child support in California generally terminates at 18. If you’re still a full-time high school student, support continues until you graduate or turn 19, whichever comes first. Parents can agree to extend it, and courts can order continued support for a disabled adult child who can’t be self-supporting.
Social Security Survivor Benefits End
If you receive Social Security survivor benefits because a parent died, payments stop at 18. They can continue to 19 if you’re still enrolled full-time in elementary or secondary school, and at any age if you became disabled before turning 22.9Social Security Administration. Survivors Benefits
FAFSA Doesn’t Treat You as Independent
Turning 18 doesn’t make you an independent student for federal financial aid. The FAFSA uses its own criteria, and for the 2026–27 school year you’re independent only if you were born before January 1, 2003, are married, are a veteran, have dependents of your own, were in foster care or a ward of the court after age 13, or meet certain other specific conditions.10Federal Student Aid. Dependency Status Living apart from your parents or not being claimed on their taxes isn’t enough. Most 18-year-old college freshmen still have to report parental financial information.
The Kiddie Tax Can Still Apply
The IRS “kiddie tax” taxes a child’s unearned income (investment earnings, trust distributions) at the parent’s higher rate. For 2026, the first $1,350 of a child’s unearned income is tax-free, the next $1,350 is taxed at the child’s rate, and anything above $2,700 is taxed at the parent’s marginal rate.11Internal Revenue Service. Rev. Proc. 2025-32 It applies to children under 19, or under 24 if they’re full-time students who don’t provide more than half their own support. Turning 18 alone doesn’t end it.
Selective Service
Federal law requires most male U.S. citizens and male immigrants to register with the Selective Service System within 30 days of turning 18. Failing to register can block you from federal student financial aid, federal job training programs, and federal employment. The obligation runs until age 26.12Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 50 USC 3802 – Registration
You’re Charged as an Adult
Before 18, criminal charges typically go through California’s juvenile court system. At 18 that pathway closes. Every charge is filed, tried, and sentenced in adult court, with adult penalties on the table, including state prison.
Reaching Adult Status Before 18
California lets minors between 14 and 17 petition the court for emancipation, which grants many adult rights early.13Judicial Branch of California. Emancipation in California An emancipated minor can choose where to live, apply for a work permit, keep their own earnings, enroll in school, and get a credit card without parental permission. A judge has to find that you’re already living apart from your parents with their knowledge, have a legal source of income, can manage your own finances, and that emancipation is in your best interest. Once emancipated, your parents are no longer legally required to support you.
Marriage also triggers emancipation. If a minor obtains a court order to marry and the marriage is valid, California treats that minor as emancipated.14California Courts. FL-915 Order and Notices to Minor on Request to Marry or Establish a Domestic Partnership California sets no statutory minimum age for marriage; a minor of any age can marry if a court grants permission and at least one parent or guardian consents in writing, with extra safeguards for minors under 17 or without a high school diploma.15California Courts. FL-910 Request of Minor to Marry or Establish a Domestic Partnership