Off to College: Adding an Estate Plan to the Back to School Checklist

Each August, we prepare to send our kids back to the classroom. For many, the back to school hustle consists of new supplies, Meet the Teacher Night, and soaking up the last few days of summer. However, if you are gearing up to send your son or daughter off to college, you may want to consider adding an estate plan to the back to school to-do list.

Once a child reaches adulthood (18 in Texas), you lose the legal right to access that child’s medical and financial information. Information regarding your child’s hospital stay can become inaccessible, and you lose the ability to access your child’s bank accounts and other financial information. The effects of these impediments may become magnified by the many miles between you and your child’s new home, especially if a child has an accident or illness.

As a solution, your children should have the following medical and financial documents prepared to give you peace of mind and access to information, even from afar:

1.     Financial Power of Attorney: A Financial Power of Attorney designates someone to act on your child’s behalf for financial matters. This document gives your child’s agent access to bank accounts and other financial information.

2.     Medical Power of Attorney: A Medical Power of Attorney designates someone to make medical decisions for your child if he or she is unable to communicate with doctors or healthcare providers. This document becomes extremely important if your child has a major accident or illness.

3.     HIPAA Authorization: Medical privacy laws restrict who may speak to your child’s doctors about medical treatments, past medical history, and current diagnosis. A HIPAA Authorization allows your child to designate those family members, friends, and others that should have the right to speak to doctors and other healthcare providers to find out how your child is doing. This document is extremely important if your child becomes hospitalized.

4.     Declaration of Guardian: A Declaration of Guardian allows your child to nominate someone to manage the child’s physical care and finances in the event a court determines that your child is unable to take care of these things alone.

5.     Directive to Physicians (Living Will): A Directive to Physicians is an optional document that allows your child to choose whether certain life support systems should be utilized in the event your child has a terminal or irreversible condition that would otherwise result in your child’s death. This document overrides the Medical Power of Attorney’s authority to act in these very limited circumstances. Again, this is an optional document that may be important to your child, depending on his or her personal belief system.

As parents, we hope these documents are never needed. However, it is better to have them and not need them, than to need them and not have them. If your family would benefit from obtaining a College Package this fall, please contact us.