Can you be drug tested by your stepfather and birth mother if you’re 19 years of age?
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Can you be drug tested by your stepfather and birth mother if you’re 19 years of age?
He just wants to prove that I’ve been smoking green, so that way he can kick me out on the streets by myself and become homeless.
Asked on December 27, 2016 under Personal Injury, Iowa
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 7 years ago | Contributor
He can't force you to take a drug test once you are over 18, BUT if you are an adult, he does not need to let you live in his house, either: there is no right to live in a parent's home once you are an adult (18 or over). So he could make it a condition of living there that you take and pass drug tests; if you refuse to do so, he could force you to leave (first tell you to leave; then if you don't, file an action for "ejectment," which is eviction for non-tenants, like adult children living at home without paying rent) to have court officers remove you.
However, even if he wants you out, if the home is also owned by (titled in the name of) your mother, she could let you stay even if he doesn't want to (either owner may let guests, like adult children, stay)--but again, she doesn't have to do so, so she could go along with this and look to remove you.
If you are paying rent, you are a tenant, and he can't eject you--but if you don't have a written lease for a definite term or period of time, you are a month-to-month tenant on an oral lease and he can give you a month's notice that your tenancy is over, and he can do this for any reason (such as not taking, or failing, a drug test), then evict you if you don't leave after the notice period.
If you have a written lease, he can't remove you until the lease is over, unless you violate the lease, are disorderly, threaten him or your mother, damage the property, or fail to pay rent.
If you are on the home's title, you are a co- or part-owner and cannot be removed.
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