The Legal Documents Your Child Needs When They Turn 18
What happens when my child becomes a legal adult?
Whether they are leaving for college or simply moving out on their own, this is an important transition for you and your adult child.
Once your child turns eighteen, they are a legal adult. Their medical, banking, and school records are protected from disclosure, even to a parent, absent proper consent and authorization. How can your child give you that consent? There are specific documents to enable you to assist your young adult, particularly when they are headed off to college and will be living outside of your home.
You may think this is not necessary. Even if you and your adult child have a strong and open relationship, it does not entitle you, as their parent, to access medical information, school records, or financial records. You would, of course, need access to this information in case of a serious medical emergency resulting in incapacity. However, there are also less extreme but very likely scenarios where you might need access to your adult child’s information outside of a more catastrophic accident.
For example:
An off-campus landlord is taking advantage of your adult child, and you wish to negotiate on your behalf.
The Bursar’s office failed to process something, and you notified your adult child of the error in the middle of finals. Your child is consumed with studying for exams, and you wish to assist in resolving the issue.
Your adult child has lost a wallet, debit card, or credit card and needs assistance contacting financial institutions about the situation.
Your adult child needs your assistance scheduling medical or dental appointments during school break because they are overwhelmed and too stressed to have made the arrangements in time.
The health insurance company has denied coverage for an urgent care visit, and your child needs assistance communicating with the insurance company to resolve the matter.
How can I continue to help them?
To be in a position to assist your adult child, your child will need to execute a Power of Attorney to appoint you to act as their agent, an Advance Medical Directive to appoint a health care agent, and outline treatment wishes in the event of incapacity, and a HIPPA waiver to allow access to medical records. You will also want to consider whether the college or university your child attends has a form of their own to authorize access to records under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (“FERPA”).
Maguire Law can help you with this exciting transition.
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Contact Maguire Law today to learn about our “Off to School” package.
*This blog post is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal or tax advice.
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