Readying your young adult for college life is a time of great pride and great angst all at the same time. It’s a time of self-discovery and independence for your college student, a time to not have to report to their parents their whereabouts. 

For parents the reality that once a child turns 18, the child is legally a stranger to you is a frightening reality.  You as a parent have no more right to obtain medical information on your legal-age son or daughter than you would to obtain information about a stranger on the street.  It does not matter that the young-adult child is covered under their parents’ health insurance, or that the parents are paying the bill.

Do not send your legal-age college student off to school without three legal forms in place:

(1)  HIPAA authorization,
(2)  medical power of attorney, and
(3)  durable power of attorney.

These three forms will help protect your adult child and facilitate your involvement as a parent (or that of another trusted adult) in a medical emergency.

The HIPAA authorization allows medical providers to disclose your adult child’s private health condition/information to the authorized person.   A medical power of attorney will let someone be your adult child’s representative, or agent, in the event they are unable to make or communicate decisions about all aspects of their health care.   Lastly, a durable power of attorney can be useful in a variety of situations, such as when your adult children go overseas, either for a gap year or to study. In case of an emergency, having a power of attorney makes it easier to contact the local embassy or wire money from an adult child’s bank account, for example. It could also come in handy if a parent needs to sign a legal document, such as a lease, in their adult child’s absence.
As parents we know that no one does life alone.   Everyone benefits from trust advisors in their life.  Helping your young adult put in place proper legal safe-guards is not an act of an overprotective helicopter parent, its an act of love of a parent who does not want to find themselves in the waiting room of a hospital with no legal rights to act or sitting at an embassy begging to be legally recognized. 

Speak with an elder law attorney to ensure you secure legally binding documents.

​Contact Attorney Melissa O’Connor at:
Call:  954-637-1300
Email:  [email protected] ​