It’s graduation season! And a vital time to make sure you are preparing your college-aged kids, and yourself, for going to college.
We usually don’t think about our children needing to sign legal documents, but once a child turns 18, they become legally recognized as an adult and a parent loses the right to act on the child’s behalf. Because of this, before you send your adult child off to college, there are a few things that you need to make sure they have.
We call this their “GAP” documents, which include:
Medical Power of Attorney + HIPAA Authorization
A Medical Power of Attorney and HIPAA Authorization authorizes a parent to make medical decisions on behalf of their young adult and to receive medical information. If a young adult is ill, in an accident, or otherwise becomes incapacitated, even for a short time, a medical power of attorney is imperative. Without this written authority to act, a parent will need to go to court to be named guardian to act on his or her adult child’s behalf.
Financial Power of Attorney
A Financial Power of Attorney authorizes a parent to handle financial matters on behalf of their young adult. Not only can an agent under a financial power of attorney make financial decisions during incapacity but can also do things like negotiate contracts or leases if the child is out of the country. Like a Medical Power of Attorney, without this, a parent will need to be named guardian by the court to act on the adult child’s behalf.
FERPA
If your young adult is going off to college, the university may have a proprietary FERPA release, but often they will tell a parent to get a generic third-party release form. For this reason, we include a FERPA release as a part of our GAP documents for our clients.
Simple Will
If your child has assets like a bank account, or a savings or UGMA account, however small, they need a Will. The cost of closing out an account without a Will is almost 3x the cost of probating a simple Will.
The team at Thrash, Carroll and & Vanway is here to make sure you and your family are prepared for these milestones and life changes, and would be happy to assist you! Contact us at 512.263.5400 or [email protected].