Your child’s senior year of high school goes by in a flash. Between deciding on which college they go to, securing student loans, senior prom, graduation, and prepping for them to go off to college, there is just so much to do! What you might not think about is having some legal documents for them. But these legal documents are actually essential. They are now an adult, and they could be hundreds of miles away from you. What if something should happen? Who will speak for them should they become incapacitated? Let’s look at the 4 legal documents every college student needs and why they need them.
Power of Attorney
The Power of Attorney is very important because it allows someone, usually their parents to act on their behalf. If your child is going to college very far away, and there is a close relative nearby it could be wise to choose them as the power of attorney since they can get to the student more quickly.
Healthcare Surrogate
A Healthcare Surrogate, aka Healthcare Power of Attorney, or Healthcare Proxy is another important legal document. This allows your child to designate someone to step in and make medical decisions for them should they become incapacitated. This is important for any child, but especially if your child is a student athlete as they tend to become more injured than students that are not athletes. It’s important to remember that their life could depend on this.
Living Will
It’s important to note that a living will is different than a last will and testament. A living will is used in estate planning to predetermine certain healthcare decisions. These decisions can include whether they receive end of life care in the event they are in a vegetive state. Whether they want certain life sustaining care such as ventilators, organ donation, feeding tubes and things of that nature.
HIPPA Release
HIPPA is a federal law, this law prohibits medical professionals from sharing medical records with anyone. This HIPPA Release, a legal document authorizes your college student to designate people access to their medical records. This can include their family doctors at home, and you the parents!
Don’t send your child off to college without any of these documents. Contact us and let us help you prepare these most essential legal documents for their next adventure, wherever it may be.
