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Essential Documents: An Adulting Lesson for 18-Year-Olds

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Graduating high school is a pivotal point in a person’s life. You are ready to go to college, travel the world, serve our country, or join the working world.  It’s a big leap from living in your parents’ home and abiding by their rules to living someplace new and creating your own set of rules. Whatever your chosen next-step in life, now is the time to start thinking about a few essential documents.

When you turn 18 you are given the power to make more decisions for yourself and that means that in some cases, your parents are no longer automatically allowed to step in on your behalf. The laws protect adults’ medical information and financial information. Therefore, if you are injured and unable to communicate to doctors or medical personnel, there is no one there to help. If you are hurt or sick while away from home, the doctor or hospital will not be able to discuss your condition with anyone, including your parents. The same thing goes for finances. If you are studying abroad and your credit card gets stolen, your parents cannot help you. This can be isolating and scary for someone just out on their own. 

Luckily, there is a simple solution to all of these problems. There are three legal documents we recommend to all persons 18 years and older.  They are the Health Care Proxy, the HIPAA release, and the Durable Power of Attorney. 

  • The Health Care Proxy is the document where you name someone to make medical decisions for you if you are unable to. It’s important to understand that if you are able to communicate to doctors what your wishes are, they will not need to call your parents.  This document is intended to be used only when needed such as if you are unconscious. 
  • The HIPAA Release. HIPAA is a federal law that protects your health care information.  Doctors, nurses, and schools cannot share your medical information without your expressed authorization.  The HIPAA Release is a document where you indicate who is allowed to access your medical records. You can add more than one person to your HIPPA release form so that, for example, the doctor can inform both of your parents about your medical status.  The person named in your Health Care Proxy must also be named in your HIPAA Release so that they can be informed in order to make decisions for you. 
  • The Durable Power of Attorney works like the Health Care Proxy because it appoints someone to handle financial situations if you are unable to. Again, this document gives lots of “power” to the person(s) you name in them, so you must trust the person who you name as your agent in the document.

How to get your three essential documents:

So how does a graduating senior get these documents? At Ladimer Law the process is quite simple. 

  1. You need to call or email an attorney to schedule a phone call or Zoom meeting.  Yes, you read that right; your parents cannot do this for you.
  2. Then the attorney will ask you who you want to name as your agents in the documents.
  3. At the end of the scheduled phone call you and the attorney will book an appointment to meet to sign the documents.
  4. At the document signing meeting, you will sign (a/k/a execute) the three documents, and then take them home with you.

The first phone call takes about 15-20 minutes.  The document signing meeting takes about 15-20 as well.  So, the whole process takes less than an hour! Adulting doesn’t have to be tiresome or time consuming all the time! If you have questions about these documents, or anything related to estate planning, the attorneys at Ladimer Law are here to help. Contact us today.

Estate Administration