When Your 18-Year Old is NOT Your “Child”

Are you awaiting responses from colleges to your son or daughter’s applications? Hearing about Prom and planning graduation parties?  What a great time for your child and you! You have done an awesome job raising your children and preparing them for what lies ahead.

But, do you realize that on your child’s 18th birthday you can no longer make medical or financial decisions for them? Consider this:

The medical privacy law called HIPAA prevents health care providers from sharing medical information with you. This is what happened following the shooting at Virginia Tech;

…. Your child is a legal adult and if he/she is incapacitated you will need a court ordered guardianship to make the adult child’s financial and medical decisions. Guardianship is time consuming, an invasion of privacy and expensive.

Give the gift that shows how much you really care. We would be honored to meet with your child just after their 18th birthday to create:

1. A Durable Power of Attorney that will legally allow you to make their financial decisions if he/she is temporarily or permanently incapacitated (i.e. communicate with the banks, car leasing company, the I.R.A. administrator, financial advisor).
2. A Designation of Health Care Surrogate that will legally allow you to make medical decisions if he/she is temporarily or permanently incapacitated (i.e. obtain a second opinion, transfer your child to another hospital, gain access to medical records).
3. A HIPAA Authorization that will legally allow you to access what is otherwise considered confidential health information.

Call us today to schedule a consultation for the week of your child’s 18th birthday and create a plan that delivers peace of mind.  As the MasterCard commercial says: Getting something they actually need ‘priceless.’