He’s eighteen, so now what?! Will you be able to help him in an emergency? Will you have access to his medical care in the event of an accident? These are all such important things to consider because while our kids will always be our kids, in the eyes of the law they are now adults.
John is middle of the pack as far as turning eighteen in his friend group and I’ve been surprised how many parents didn’t know about legal documents you may need for your new young adult.
When I first heard about this a couple of years ago, I set a calendar reminder for John’s 18th birthday. In just about 10 minutes and for $63 (I have a referral link!), we used Mama Bear Legal Forms to create John’s Young Adult Power of Attorney. The package we chose includes:
- Health Power of Attorney Documents
- Finance Power of Attorney Documents
- HIPAA Release & FERPA Waiver
- Free Documents for 2nd State (if attending college out of state)
- Free App for Scanning & Storing Forms
This literally could not have been easier and you won’t need any special info on hand that isn’t already stored in your brain. :-) We created his forms together, printed them and set up time with our notary neighbor to sign them. The most difficult part was finding two witnesses. Having them notarized isn’t required, but is a worthwhile step to take. Then, we downloaded the free app and scanned them in so they are always on hand. I pray we will never need these, but it was a small investment of time and money to put my mind at ease.
SAVE 20% OFF MAMA BEAR LEGAL FORMS
This post and discount is in no way sponsored. I bookmarked this service years ago and was very pleased with our experience!
If you have anything parents of young adults should be thinking about, share in the comments!
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This is genius! Thanks for sharing!
I remember when my daughter went to college, the school privacy issues were just getting started and even though it was us sending the checks, we had no “right” to any of her information until all the forms were done and they were a “headache” to do at the time… doing all of this ahead of time would have been a game changer.
And as someone who was the parent of the same daughter being diagnosed with cancer (almost immediately after her college grad) it would have been much easier to have the power of attorney documents signed before being in the “newly diagnosed” situation when you DON’T want to deal with these type of documents.
Excellent PSA Amanda!
Thank you! Thank you! For sharing this.
So important.
Loved the game share yesterday too!
Such great information, thank you for sharing!!
Print them and take them to college orientation. I have two daughters: at the oldest daughter’s college, it was tricky to get them filed with the college (UVA), the second daughter’s had a table to turn these in at orientation (FSU). Not sure if it is the difference in the schools or just that a few years have gone by and now colleges know what to do with these documents.
Please see your Georgia-licensed attorney for legal documents. These online packets are not state-specific and often cause more harm than good.
Of course that is a great path too. We spoke to two attorneys in the state of GA (one being John’s uncle who has given us sound legal advise for the past 25 years) and agreed this is the best path forward for our family right now.
Good information for those 18+ young adults and their immediate family. And the HIPAA documents should also be held now where John receives his healthcare; primary care doc or clinic will scan that info into his chart. This was a valuable post today and hopefully others will share it.
Something worthy of noting also is that before your child is 18, they have power to make their own medical decisions, and you don’t/won’t have to be consulted. This can include starting and/or stopping medications. The age may vary by state, but I encountered this over the past year with my own 17yo.
Our son left for his freshman year of college in August. He’s now out of state. 😢
We also used Mama Bear’s Legal Forms before he left and it certainly gives me peace of mind that should anything happen, we’ve got something in place. He agrees.
And as a side note – you’ll be shocked at how little is shared with parents regarding their child in college. Parents aren’t granted access to anything – scheduling classes, grades, etc. It’s a whole new ballgame!
Amanda, I know I’m late adding to this post, but I have a soon to be 18 year old also. Have you created a life binder or similar for their documents? I’m trying to find the perfect one.
I have not, yet! Pass along anything you find.