While you may consider your 18 year old to still be your “baby,” the law considers him/her to be an adult. This means that you will need written permission to make medical or financial decisions on his/her behalf. This can be decisions from the most simple request for your child’s shot records to decisions that must be made if your child is seriously injured in an accident.
If your young adult is graduating from high school this year, take some time to have the following 3 documents drafted:
- Advance Health Care Directive (HCD) with HIPAA Release. Your young adult can appoint a parent (or somebody else that they trust) to be their health care agent. This allows the appointed person to make medical decisions if your child becomes incapacitated Included in the HCD should be a HIPAA Release to ensure you can communicate with physicians and medical staff to access medical records.
- Living Will. The Living Will is a document you sign stating what you want for end of life decisions, to remain on life support and/or feeding tubes if there is little or no chance of your survival if your child is in a permanent vegetative state.
- Financial Power of Attorney. If your young adult has an emergency, a financial power of attorney allows you to access bank accounts and act financially on your child’s behalf. This includes paying bills and applying for government benefits.
If you have a young adult and you are interested in creating these documents so you are prepared to help him/her in an emergency, contact Maura Curran to schedule an appointment. Having these documents in place will give you the peace of mind knowing you are fully prepared to be there for your grown-up “baby.”
