It’s that time again!  High school seniors are looking forward to graduation, celebrating their accomplishments with graduation parties, fun summer plans and job opportunities. Many have received their acceptance letters to colleges or universities, and they are busily preparing for their futures.  It’s an exciting time.

But in addition to packing, moving, meeting roommates, summer fun, and everything else that fills this time, many students are turning 18 and will soon be away from home.

Turning 18 is a major milestone. Young people change from minors in the eyes of the law to full-fledged adults overnight.  When your child is 17, you can make decisions for them, speak to their doctors, handle their finances and so on, but once they are 18, their lives are private, and you have little to no say in their affairs.

As we all know, turning 18 doesn’t make young people capable of handling matters on their own without a little help from their parents.  Even worse, what if they have an accident, are taken to the hospital, struggle to handle their finances or need help while away from home? What if they leave to study abroad and aren’t just away at school, but are in a different country?  To address this, young people becoming 18 should consider some basic estate planning before they leave for college.

Here are a few estate planning documents to consider:

Durable Financial Power of Attorney

A durable financial power of attorney allows a student to name an agent to make decisions for them, especially financial decisions.  Students will typically name their parents as agents so that their parents can assist as students learn financial independence.  Agents may help pay bills, manage accounts, assist in purchases of cars, negotiate leases, communicate with school administration and so on.

Medical Power of Attorney

A medical power of attorney designates someone to make medical decisions on your child’s behalf if they cannot make decisions themselves. If your child has an accident or needs medical assistance and cannot make medical decisions on their own, the medical power of attorney will allow you to do so on their behalf.

HIPAA Authorization

A HIPAA authorization is a waiver by which your child grants you access to their confidential health care information.   This will help in the case of a medical emergency, but also allow you to get medical updates and interact with medical providers to help your child navigate those situations.

The HIPAA authorization can also be tailored so that your student doesn’t have to share every aspect of their medical information if they would prefer to keep some of it private.

Other Estate Planning Documents

An adult should of course have other estate planning documents besides these, including a will, potentially a trust or documents addressing guardianship or final interment. However, the documents described here are most critical when a student first is off to school.

School in Other States

Families considering creating estate planning documents for students before they go to college often ask if they should create documents where the student is a resident, or if it should be in the state where the student goes to school.  There are occasionally reasons to do this differently, such as if the student is becoming a resident of that state and not just attending the school, but generally the estate planning documents should be based upon the law of your residence.

When to Execute Documents

The best time to execute estate planning documents for college bound students is shortly after the student turns 18 and before they leave for school.  Once they head to school there will be many more demands for their attention, and estate planning is often pushed to the side. Additionally, executing the documents before they leave provides everyone an opportunity to receive copies and discuss how to best utilize them before leaving.

As young adults prepare to head to college, consider having the proper estate planning tools to ensure they will be supported as they head off on their exciting adventure.