Is Your Child Graduating High School? Read this!

Are you planning your child's graduation celebration? Thinking about what present to give your child for graduating with good grades?  Look no further - give the gift that is priceless (as the MasterCard commercial says). Give your child, and you, the peace of mind of creating a legal plan now that they are adults. Yes, even though we call them our children and many of them may not be fiscally responsible they are adults under the law and we can no longer make medical or financial decisions for them.

When our children become18 year of age, they are legally adults and at minimum should have:

• a Durable Power of Attorney for financial decision-making and
• a Designation of Health Care Surrogate for medical decision-making. 

These documents can help your family avoid a costly court guardianship in the event your child is injured or incapacitated and cannot make decisions for themselves.  While events such as the Virginia Tech shooting and the Boston Marathon bombing thankfully don't happen frequently, statistics show that young adults have the highest rate of automobile accidents.  The medical privacy law called 'HIPAA' will not permit parents to make medical decisions for an adult incapacitated child absent legal authority. 

 

Visit our website to learn more at: http://www.fl-elderlaw.com/legal-planning-for-young-adults.html.

Remember: we lead our children by example so be sure you have your legal documents in place!

 

This is for informational purposes only and does constitute an attorney-client relationship