Legally, if you are under 18, can you be the CEO of a corporation? If
you are under 18, can your parents legally read your mail for no
reason?

This is for a report, thanks.

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Request for Question Clarification by secret901-ga on 20 Jan 2003 17:58 PST

Do you reside in the United States?  Which state?

Hello:

Allow me to answer both of your questions. As for your first question,
the answer is that it depends on where you incorporate your business.
As far as I know there are fifteen states that require a minimum age
of 18 or over to incorporate a business. Most of the states don’t have
any legal limits to incorporate. I will not go in detail because it
might confuse us. If you need to find out the information about the
legal age limits and other basics of incorporation (state by state),
the best resource that I know is definitely
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=%22Director+vs+CEO%22
The link will provide you with everything you may need. 

Similarly the age of incorporation can vary form country to country.
If someone who is under the age limit wants to incorporate, they can
easily incorporate in other states. (Some states provide additional
benefits to incorporate, 50% NY companies are incorporated in
Delaware).

NOW come to the second part. The second question is a controversial
one. Parents and lawmakers differ on any specific age limit. According
to a widely acceptable theory a parent may be (emphasis on may be)
entitled to read their children’s email if they are under the age of
eighteen. REASON because the legal age of adulthood is generally 18
inside the United States
LEGAL AGE OF ADULTHOOD STATE BY STATE
http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/tammuz69/home/Index/Laws/AgeofMajority.html
which assumes that the children hasn’t reached the level of maturity
that they need in order to make logical and complex decisions
THEREFORE a parent may be entitled to read the mail to check out on
the activities of their kids. THAT IS PRECISELY WHY the websites with
adult content have to ask the general public to accept that they are
of legal age and it is acceptable in their community to access such
material. AGAIN THAT IS WHY the legal age of smoking, enlisting in
military and voting is 18 as it is a widely held belief that it is the
age of reaching adulthood.

BUT THAN AGAIN THE TOPIC REMAINS CONTROVERSIAL as the children’s
online privacy act COPPA states that the websites have to get the
parents admission for children under 13, if they (the children under
13) have to provide any personal information.  NOW WHY DIDN’T THEY SAY
18? And why then some of the youths are tried as adults if they commit
a crime when they are under18?  SEE this is really a controversial
debate.

To tell you the truth nobody can fully answer your second question. 
Q: CAN the parents read email without any reason? 
A: We haven’t been able to set an age limit yet. So the question or
and answer in this context becomes void.

Other resources:

http://www.sans.org/rr/authentic/privacy_child.php

http://www.asfar.org/community.php

http://www.pressreleasenetwork.com/pr-2002/apr/mainpr1135.htm

http://www.itslegal.com/infonet/family/children.html

http://www.ala.org/oitp/right.html


Hope this will help. If you need further clarification, please
clarify. I will be obliged to help.

Sincerely,
Leader-ga

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Request for Answer Clarification by ghard296-ga on 21 Jan 2003 11:42 PST

Does incorporation mean you can become the legal CEO of a corporation,
or just become the owner of a corporation? As in, could a 15 or 16
year old be the CEO of a company, within the underage working limits,
in the state of mass?

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Clarification of Answer by leader-ga on 21 Jan 2003 13:31 PST

Hello:

Thanks for clarifying. Before answering your question, I wanted to
point out that the link i provided for the age requirements of
Directors is not what i have in my answer but the actual link is
http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/resources/business_incorporation/state_information.html

Now let me answer your question. Actually whenever you incoorporate
you have to select a director (Not CEO, Not any thing else). You can
be a director yourself. In large coorporations you have
directors(board of directos), officers such as CEO (appointed by
directors) and shareholders (who appoint the directors. BUT in small
coorporations you can be a director yourself and then appoint yourself
CEO as you can be the only shareholder. THEREFORE the answer to your
question is YES, there is no age limit to be CEO BECAUSE shareholders
are actual owners and since you can be the only shareholder you can
also be the only director and the CEO. I am not sure what do you mean
by underage working limits but you have no limits as you will be
working for yourself and not for any one else. IF YOU ARE STILL
CONFUSED THAN THE ANSWER IS YES TO ALL OF YOUR INQUIRIES.
In short shareholders are actual owners of coorporation (there can
only be one shareholder)----> shareholders appoint director or board
of directors ------> board of directors appoint CEO.

Hope this will help. Still confused, please ask again. I am here to
help you.
THANKS

Sincerely,
leader-ga

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Clarification of Answer by leader-ga on 21 Jan 2003 13:35 PST

IN MY CLARIFICATION I said (there can only be one shareholder). I
meant to say that there can be one or more than one shareholders.