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

Have We Forgotten Terry Schiavo?

     April 16th is National Healthcare Decisions Day (NHDD) and I wonder how many people still have not signed medical advance directives since Terry Schiavo died.  The answer would probably shock many of us.  The one lesson we all should have taken from the Terry Schiavo case was that life altering events can happen at any age and if we don't put our wishes in writing it can create unnecessary emotional turmoil for the people we love.
     Making an advance directive does not mean that you refuse to receive life sustaining treatment if you are diagnosed with a terminal illness.  It does mean that:

• You choose who makes your medical decisions if you cannot communicate;
• You choose the type of care you want to receive especially if you have very specific religious views (i.e. Orthodox Jew; Jehovah's witness);
• Your loved ones can hopefully avoid a guardianship proceeding and the loss of privacy and expense it entails.

     Who should make a medical advance directive? Everyone as soon as they reach age 18 (or in some states age 21) and are viewed as a adult in the eyes of the law.  Why you ask? Because once our children become adults we cannot make their medical decisions simply because we are their parents. Before you send your children off to college make sure they have:

1. A Durable Power of Attorney so you can make financial decisions for them if they are temporarily or permanently incapacitated;
2. A Designation of Health Care Surrogate so you can make medical decisions if they are temporarily or permanently incapacitated (i.e. due to a car accident).

     Be a role model for your children, your siblings, friends and family - make your advance directives today. Don't know where to start? Join us for our panel discussion this month (see the calendar on our website).  There's no time like the present!