Becky Cholewka: One of the questions I get asked the most is, “When does somebody actually really need to do a state planning?” I always have the same answer.
If you are over the age of 18, you need to have documents in place. This is because you’re now an adult, and your parents can no longer make any types of decisions for you, cannot get access to your medical information, and they can no longer even make medical decisions on your behalf.
Everyone who goes to college, in my opinion, should have a healthcare power of attorney in place, a financial power of attorney in place, a living will and a HIPAA release form. This is still going to allow your loved ones to be able to help you.
In a time of crisis, for example, you could be in a car accident and you might need somebody to make medical decisions for you. You want them to have access to your medical information, which is for the HIPAA release.
You also want to be able to tell them or have them help you if you are traveling and lost your credit card, for example, which happened to a client of mine when they were traveling through Spain. Their parents back home were able to contact their bank and their credit card companies to be able to shut things down to make sure that identity theft didn’t occur.
Even if you are young, you still need to make sure that you are thinking about doing a estate planning. Otherwise, your family could end up in court having a court appoint them to help you with those instead.
Our College Care Plan includes the four legal documents we suggest every young adult has in place prior to leaving for college; a healthcare power of attorney, a financial power of attorney, a living will, and a HIPAA release form for one set price. Call our office today at 480-497-3770 to ensure you maintain the ability to help your child should a crisis occur.
