Is Your Child Heading Off To College? Make Sure These Legal Documents are Available

Is Your Child Heading Off To College This Year? If So, Contact Us Today!

Sending your child to college is a major milestone but comes with important legal considerations. Now that they live independently, handling a medical emergency could be much more complicated. The Wall Street Journal makes the case that, as parents, it is critical to ensure your college-bound student has their documents in order. This way, you can help them if they need it in any situation.

Why are Legal Documents Important for College Students?

When your child turns 18, privacy laws restrict your access to their medical, financial, and academic records and prevent you from making decisions on behalf of your child. Having essential legal documents in place ensures you can support them in emergencies.  Here are four essential legal documents for college students.

HIPAA Waiver

A HIPAA waiver allows your child to grant you access to their medical records. Without this form, healthcare providers cannot share any medical information due to privacy laws. This waiver ensures that you can be informed about your child’s health and can make informed decisions in a medical emergency.

Medical Power of Attorney

A medical power of attorney designates someone to make medical decisions on your child’s behalf if they cannot communicate with their healthcare. If your child becomes incapacitated due to illness or injury, you’ll need this document to manage their care.

Durable Power of Attorney

A durable power of attorney for finances allows an agent to step into the shoes of another person and conduct financial transactions as if they are that person. This power of attorney can be effective immediately, or upon incapacity, and can ensure bills are paid and accounts are appropriately managed. This document is particularly important if your child is studying abroad or becomes incapacitated.

FERPA Waiver

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is a federal law that affords parents the right to have access to their children’s education records, the right to seek to have the records amended, and the right to have some control over the disclosure of personally identifiable information from the education records. When your child turns 18 years old, or enters a postsecondary institution at any age, the rights under FERPA transfer from the parents to the student. A FERPA waiver allows your child to grant you access to their academic records. This can be important if you need to stay informed about their academic progress or assist in managing their education.

Why are Legal Documents Needed?

Without these legal documents, you could face significant challenges in assisting your child. For instance, if your child is hospitalized, you could be left in the dark about their condition without the right legal documents. You would also be unable to make decisions on their behalf to manage their care or finances.

How to Obtain Relevant Legal Documents?

These documents should be obtained through an attorney to ensure that they meet your state’s legal requirements. Please note that most of these documents require notarization. Here’s a brief guide on how to obtain each:

  • HIPAA Waiver: Obtained from an attorney or from your child’s healthcare provider.
  • Medical Power of Attorney: Obtained from an attorney to ensure it complies with state-specific laws.
  • Durable Power of Attorney: Obtained from an attorney to ensure it meets state legal standards.
  • FERPA Waiver: Available through your child’s college or university.

Do Legal Documents for College Students Vary between States?

The requirements for legal documents for college students can vary by state. If your child is attending college out of state, you may need to prepare valid documents for your home state and the state where your child studies. Consulting with an attorney helps properly prepare and execute all documents.

What If My Child Is Studying Abroad?

A durable power of attorney becomes even more crucial if your child studies abroad. This document ensures you can manage their financial matters and make decisions on their behalf if they encounter issues while overseas.

Secure Your Child’s Future Today

Preparing these essential legal documents for college students, and children over age 18, maintains their safety and your peace of mind. Don’t wait until an emergency arises; take action now.

If you need assistance preparing these legal documents or want to learn more about estate planning for your college-bound student, contact our office today to schedule a consultation. Our experienced attorneys are here to help you navigate these important decisions and ensure your child’s future is protected.

Key Takeaways

  • Access to Medical Information: A HIPAA waiver ensures you can receive updates on your child’s health in emergencies.
  • Medical Decision-Making: A medical power of attorney allows someone to make medical decisions for your child if incapacitated.
  • Financial Management: A durable power of attorney enables you to handle your child’s financial matters if needed.
  • Educational Records Access: A FERPA waiver lets you stay informed about your child’s academic progress.
  • State Compliance: Ensures documents meet specific state requirements, which is crucial if your child attends college out of state.
  • Peace of Mind: Having these documents prepared ensures you can support your child effectively in any situation.

Reference: WSJ (Aug. 14, 2023) “Before Your Child Goes to College, Complete These 6 Important Documents – WSJ”

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Estate Planning Checklist for 2024

Estate planning is more than writing a will; it’s a plan to manage the legacy you want to pass to your loved ones.  It documents your healthcare preferences, prepares for aging and incapacity and conveys your assets to those you choose.   The National Council on Aging (NCOA) Adviser’s article, “Estate Planning Guide and Checklist for 2024,” offers an overview of what to consider when planning your estate.  There is no perfect checklist as all estate plans should be tailored to the individuals using them, and so what you may want or need could vary, but it’s certainly a good idea of what to consider.

So, this blog will cover an estate planning checklist for 2024.

Understanding Estate Planning

Estate planning organizes your affairs to fulfill your wishes after you pass away. It encompasses decisions about money, property, medical care and care for your beneficiaries. The process includes creating essential documents like wills, trusts, powers of attorney, medical documents and more.  Estate planning provides peace of mind that your wishes are known and respected, benefiting your loved ones, so it is important to consider all of the key documents in the estate planning checklist.

Key Documents in Estate Planning

  • Wills: A legal document that outlines how to distribute assets after your death.
  • Trusts: Contracts that allow a third party, or trustee, to hold property and other assets on behalf of a beneficiary.  These are used for many purposes depending on what kind of trust, such as tax planning or probate avoidance.
  • Powers of Attorney: Legal documents that grant someone else the authority to make decisions on your behalf, such as if you want to delegate to someone or because of your own incapacity.
  • Medical Documents: Documents that state your wishes regarding medical treatment when you cannot communicate your choices.  These, depending on your state, including documents like medical powers of attorney, directive to physicians (living will), HIPAA authorization or similar documents.
  • Disposition of Remains. Some states, such as Texas, have a standalone estate planning document that indicates what your final disposition wishes are, such as cremation or burial, and who is in charge of seeing that through. Other states work these concerns into existing documents.
  • Guardianship for Children.  This isn’t applicable to everyone, but if you have minor children you can name a guardian to care for them should you pass away.  This is often one of the main reasons why young couples even consider estate planning.

Key Takeaways

  • Common Estate Planning Documents: Wills, trusts, financial power of attorney and medical documents are fundamental to estate plans.
  • Everyone Needs a Will, but Consider a Trust: Regardless of the size of your estate, a will is crucial to fulfill your wishes.  What you do beyond that is dependent on your goals and situation, but always consider a trust.  People tend to assume a trust is only for the rich, but trusts are very versatile and help with many client concerns in a way that wills cannot.
  • Review Your Estate Plan Regularly: The original article says update your estate plan regularly, I say review it.  If you don’t review it regularly, it is easy to  forget the details, which makes the estate plan difficult to properly implement and even harder to update.  2024 is an excellent year to review because the estate tax thresholds are changing in 2026, exposing more clients to estate taxes than in the past.

Conclusion

Consider estate planning to be a critical process to protect your assets, provide for beneficiaries and have peace of mind for the future. Follow the estate planning checklist to create your personalized estate plan.

Reference: NCOA Adviser (Aug 21, 2023): Estate Planning Guide and Checklist for 2024.

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Estate Planning for Singles

Single clients often don’t think about estate planning as much as married clients, especially if they don’t have kids.  But, estate planning is even more critical for singles than married couples—and it has nothing to do with whom you’ll leave assets to when you die. A recent article from AARP, “6 Estate Planning Tips for Singles,” explains how estate planning addresses support during challenging life events.

To consider this, keep in mind that estate planning addresses medical and financial decisions for an incapacitated person, not just where you leave property when you die. For singles, these may be more complex questions to answer.

Whether someone has never married or is divorced or widowed, these are challenging questions to answer. However, they should be documented. In addition, singles with minor children need to nominate a trusted person who can care for their children if they cannot. Estate planning addresses all of these issues.

To be sure you complete this process, start with a conversation with an experienced estate planning attorney. This will help with accountability, ensuring that you start and finish the process.

See the original article for the fuller list, but here are some pointers for singles who keep putting this vital task off:

1.What would happen if you don’t leave clear instructions about who makes decisions for you during your incapacity? Some states have default decision makers for medical decisions, but not for financial ones.  Also, how will the person who acts (whether you chose them or not), know if you don’t want to be placed on a ventilator for artificial breathing or fed by a stomach tube while in a coma? Or how will they know what financial decisions you are ok with?

2. Dying without a will is known as dying “intestate.” All of your assets will be distributed according to the intestate succession laws in your state. That very often isn’t what clients wanted or are expecting, and typically is a far more expensive and time consuming process. Also, singles often want to leave assets to friends or non-family loved ones, and none of those individuals are beneficiaries in intestate laws.

3. Part of your estate plan includes naming a personal representative—an executor—who will oversee your affairs after your death. You’ll want to designate someone who is organized, has good judgment and can handle financial matters. You should also name a backup, so that if the first person cannot or does not wish to serve, there will be someone else to take control. This same issue applies to your financial and medical decision makers.

4. Your estate plan should include or at least consider the following:

Last will and testament. This is where you nominate your executor, heirs and how your assets will be distributed. Note that anyone named as a beneficiary on a retirement, insurance policy, or investment account supersedes any instructions in your will, so be sure to update those and check on them every few years to be sure they are still aligned with your wishes.

Living trust. This is a legal entity owning assets to be given to beneficiaries, managed by a trustee of your choosing, and avoids the delays and costs of probate. It also is helpful with managing assets during your incapacity

Financial Power of Attorney (POA). This document authorizes someone you name to act as your agent and make financial decisions if you cannot. A POA can prevent delays in accessing bank and investment accounts and paying your bills. The POA ends upon your death.

Living will, medical power of attorney, or advance health care directive. Different states use different documents here, but generally these documents allow you to designate someone to communicate your health care wishes when you cannot. For example, you can include instructions on pain management, organ donation and your wishes for life support measures.

Guardianship Nominations.  If you lack a fiduciary to control one of the issues described above during your lifetime, a court can appointment someone to do so.  That is far from ideal, but you can name who you want to be your guardian should it be necessary.  You can use similar documents to name guardians for your children.

Final Interment.  Estate plans, either through standalone documents or through the ones mentioned above, can indicate your final interment wishes (e.g. burial) and who you wish to be in charge of that process.

5. Be sure to communicate your wishes with family, friends and other advisors. Tell your fiduciaries where your documents may be found and provide them with the information they’ll need so they may act on your behalf.

Finally, we have a page on our website devoted to this topic, so see here for more ideas:  https://galligan-law.com/estate-planning-life-stages/planning-for-singles/

Reference: AARP (April 7, 2023) “6 Estate Planning Tips for Singles”

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