Estate Planning for Your Adult Children: What Parents Should Know

By: Janice Dantes

 

When we think of estate planning, we think about it as something we should do when we are older. We do not think about estate planning for our young, healthy college-aged or young adult children. Also, as parents, no matter how old our children become, we will always consider them our babies. However, as they grow into young adults, the access and control you have over them is not the same as when they were children. There might be legal mechanisms you might want to consider if you still want to provide support. Powers of attorney documents are a great way to start!

1. What does it mean to be considered a legal adult at 18 years old? In the United States, people who are 18 years old and older are considered adults. This means that they can make their own decisions without parental consent or knowledge. For example, despite parents contributing to college tuition, the adult child can authorize his/her college not to share his/her grades with his/her parents. Another example is that the adult child can obtain a passport without their parents’ consent. Lastly, an adult does not have to share any medical information with his/her parents.

2. Why is this important? In the event of a medical emergency, parents are not automatically given authority to make medical decisions for their adult children. If your adult child has a medical emergency when they are 18 years and 1 day old and have not signed a power of attorney, you, as the parent of that child who was only a minor 2 days ago, cannot make medical decisions for them without a court order. This can be a hassle especially if there is much needed medical care. Further, this is further complicated if the adult child has a significant other or divorced parents with different ideas of his/ her care.

3. What can go wrong? After high school, your 18+ old child may attend college and that college may be out of state. If there is a medical emergency, the college is not obligated to contact the parents unless instructed to do so by the child. This becomes further complicated if your child is studying abroad and a medical emergency occurs in a different country. If your adult child does not specifically give you authority to intervene in the event of a medical emergency, they may have to get a court order or someone else may make decisions for you.

4. How can Powers of Attorney help? I highly recommend parents discussing with their children the option to sign a power of attorney when they turn 18. This is particularly important if they are going away to college. If your adult child names a parent as their agent, that parent can make medical and/ or financial decisions for the adult child should a medical emergency occur.

If you would like to learn about Powers of Attorney for young adults, please call (312) 546-5077 or janice@pinaylaw.com.

Thank you for reading. Until we meet again, love one another