Your Child Is 18 and Heading to College. Can You Still Help in an Emergency?
The dorm supplies are purchased. The tuition bill is paid. The meal plan is chosen. You've talked about classes, roommates, staying safe, and maybe even how often they're expected to call home.
But there's one item that probably isn't on your college checklist: making sure you can still step in if your child needs you.
Once your child turns 18, they're legally an adult. And that changes more than many families realize.
You may still pay their tuition. They may still be on your health insurance. You may even claim them as a dependent. But legally, your ability to make certain medical, financial, and legal decisions for them is no longer automatic.
That's why two simple estate planning documents deserve a place on every family's college checklist.
What changes when your child turns 18?
For nearly two decades, you've been the person who signs forms, talks to doctors, manages paperwork, and steps in when something goes wrong.
Then your child turns 18.
Suddenly, the law recognizes them as an adult with the right to make their own decisions and control access to their personal information.
That's an important part of becoming independent. But it can also create complications when a young adult needs help.
College is often the first time a child is living away from home and navigating more of life independently. They're driving, traveling, playing sports, studying abroad, managing their own money, and making their own decisions.
Most of the time, that's exactly how it should be.
But accidents and emergencies happen. Your child could be injured in a car accident, hospitalized after a fall, lose their passport while on spring break, or simply need someone to handle an urgent financial or legal matter while they're unable to do so themselves.
When that happens, being their parent doesn't necessarily give you the legal authority to step in.
Two documents every family with an adult child should know about
Fortunately, your child can choose who they want to help them if they're ever unable to manage something themselves.
Two documents make that possible: an Advance Health Care Directive and a Durable Power of Attorney.
1. Advance Health Care Directive
An Advance Health Care Directive allows your adult child to name someone they trust to make medical decisions on their behalf if they're unable to communicate or make those decisions themselves.
Depending on state law and the documents used, it can also help clarify their health care wishes and who should be involved in their care.
For a college student living hundreds or thousands of miles from home, having those decisions documented ahead of time can make an already stressful situation easier for everyone involved.
2. Durable Power of Attorney
A Durable Power of Attorney allows your child to authorize someone they trust to handle certain financial and legal matters on their behalf.
That could become useful if your child is temporarily incapacitated or otherwise unable to manage an important financial or administrative task themselves.
Your child remains in control of whom they appoint and the authority they choose to give that person.
This isn't about taking away their independence
For some parents, asking an 18-year-old to sign legal documents can feel strange. After all, isn't the whole point of this stage of life to let them become more independent?
These documents don't have to undermine that independence. In many ways, they're part of it.
Turning 18 means your child gets to decide who can act for them, rather than having those decisions made automatically because they're a minor.
Creating these documents is an opportunity to have a larger conversation about adulthood: Who do you trust? Who should be able to help you? What would you want to happen in an emergency?
Those are valuable questions whether your child is heading across the country for college, moving into their first apartment, starting a job, taking a gap year, or staying close to home.
Add legal preparedness to the college checklist
Estate planning isn't only about wills, inheritances, and what happens after someone dies.
It's also about preparing for the moments in life when someone may need another person to step in.
Turning 18 is one of those moments.
So while you're checking off the final college preparations this summer, consider adding two more items to the list:
They're documents you hope your family never needs to use. But if an emergency happens, having them in place can make it much easier for the people your child trusts to help when it matters most.
With GoodTrust, your family can create and securely store essential estate planning documents online, so they're there when you need them. Get started today, here.