Legal Question in Family Law in New Jersey

Re: minimum age

If you are asking the question you have a problem. Parents have the obligation of protecting their children from dangerous situations and it is the amount of time of the child being along in combination with the child's age and the circumstances of the child being alone.

If you leave your fifteen year old alone and he or she overdoses on drugs or alcohol while alone at home or accidently causes a gas explosion you should be very worried about being prosecuted.

A parent is always subject to prosecution for injury or harm occurring while a child is left alone at home.

Whether or not a parent is found to be negligent or reckless is a matter of third party perception which is hard to predict.

One can never feel completely secure about leaving a child home alone for extended periods of time.