Parents of teens turning 18 this year: there is an important change to keep in mind.
Once your child turns 18, they are legally responsible for making their own health-care decisions. If your adult child gets sick or is involved in an accident, you may not automatically be authorized to communicate with their health-care providers, access their medical information, or make decisions on their behalf.
Fortunately, your adult child can put documents in place that authorize the people they trust to help if an emergency occurs.
Here are three forms parents of young adults should know about:
1. HIPAA / Medical Information Release
A medical-information release allows your adult child to authorize health-care providers to share protected medical information with the people they choose. This can allow a parent or other trusted person to receive important medical information when properly authorized.
2. Advance Health Care Directive
In California, an Advance Health Care Directive allows an adult to name a trusted person—called a health-care agent—to make health-care decisions on their behalf if they become unable to make those decisions themselves.
3. Financial Power of Attorney
A financial Power of Attorney allows an adult to authorize a trusted person, known as an agent or attorney-in-fact, to handle the financial matters specified in the document. Depending on the authority granted, that can include dealing with credit cards and creditors, landlords, insurance companies, financial institutions, and other financial or property matters.
Why This Matters
No parent wants to imagine their child being seriously ill or injured. But once a teen becomes a legal adult, having the appropriate authorizations in place can make it easier for the people they trust to help when needed.
With properly prepared health-care and Power of Attorney documents, your adult child may authorize someone they trust to:
- Make health-care decisions if your adult child becomes unable to make those decisions.
- Access medical information when properly authorized.
- Handle authorized financial matters, including dealing with credit cards and creditors.
- Interact with landlords, insurance companies, financial institutions, and other organizations when the document grants that authority.
The best time to have this conversation is before an emergency happens.
Before Your Teen Heads Out the Door
Turning 18 often happens at the same time young adults are preparing for college, work, travel, or living away from home for the first time. It is a natural time for families to talk about who the young adult would want to help if they were seriously ill, injured, or otherwise unable to manage an important matter themselves.
If your young adult has already obtained properly prepared documents that require notarization, Eagle Eye Mobile Notary provides mobile notary services and Estate Planning Notary Services for families in Woodland, Davis, West Sacramento, Natomas, and surrounding Yolo and Sacramento County communities.
Eagle Eye Mobile Notary does not select or prepare legal documents or provide legal advice. Questions about which documents to use, what authority to grant, or how a document should be prepared should be directed to a qualified attorney or the appropriate document provider.