What parents should know before their child turns 18- Caregivers Series

Written by Avantika Pai

A child’s 18th birthday marks a significant turning point in their life. The status of legal adulthood brings a multitude of new responsibilities, such as moving away from home, starting college, or entering the workforce. During these changes, both young adults and their parents may overlook a crucial aspect of this transition: the importance of signing and completing key documents that assign responsibilities to trusted adults for potential emergencies. These documents are essential for ensuring that both young adults and their parents are prepared for any unexpected situations that could arise. 

Instead of depending on family to make life-changing decisions, newly legal adults must take on that duty themselves. According to Dawn McFadden of McFadden Bushnell LLC, some families don’t realize the impact of this until an emergency. 

“We often see that in healthcare situations where a child is off at school and they have some sort of a health crisis–they may be in an emergency room or a hospital room,” McFadden said. “The parents show up and want to start taking care of their child, but are told they can’t because once that person is 18, nobody automatically has the right to step in.”

According to McFadden, these circumstances depend on whether the medical professionals will allow the parent or guardian to intervene, with or without paperwork. Given the urgency and unpredictability of such situations, families should be prepared with the necessary documents. 

McFadden co-founded McFadden Bushnell in 2016 with her sister, Christina Bushnell, to help families plan for their future. McFadden and Bushnell, the only two attorneys at the firm, work with the other staff members to help clients with elder law, estate, and special needs planning.  

As a part of its family planning services, the firm provides a set of core documents for young adults and their parents to fill out together. Although the process primarily involves the firm and the young adult, parents are often included in the discussions. The young adult must also be agreeable and willing to sign the documents since they have the freedom to choose who they wish to name in the papers. 

The critical documents include: 

1. Financial Power of Attorney– The trusted individual, typically a parent, would be able to manage the child’s financial affairs in the event of an emergency. For instance, if a college student experiences a health crisis at school and is hospitalized, the appointed adult could access their dorm or apartment to handle personal affairs.  

2. Durable Power of Attorney for Healthcare– This document gives the appointee the authority to make medical decisions for the young adult if they are unable to do so themselves. 

3. HIPAA Authorization– With these papers, parents or trusted individuals would receive important information regarding the child’s health. Without authorization, healthcare providers cannot legally share details about the child’s condition. 

4. FERPA Release– This document would allow school officials to release the student’s academic records, such as grades or assignments, which are otherwise protected under The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.

5. Will– Although young adults may not have many assets yet, McFadden suggests that creating a will is an important step toward financial literacy. This document would name recipients for the child’s belongings.  

In these papers, the young adult can name different people across documents. This choice depends on factors such as the appointee’s proximity to the individual or their ability to provide financial support.

When McFadden Bushnell provides trust planning services for families, the agency will include a basic set of these documents for children aged 18 to 25. As part of this process, the agency will begin discussing the documents with the children before they turn 18. Once they become a legal adult, the children can simply meet with the firm in person to sign the papers. It is crucial for families to finalize these documents as soon as possible so they are prepared in case of an emergency. 

According to McFadden, these documents should be reviewed every few years. McFadden Bushnell revisits the documents with clients once every four to five years, allowing them to make changes, such as naming new individuals. For example, a client may have originally named their parents as primary contacts, but after getting married, they may wish to designate their spouse instead. However, McFadden recommends updating the Financial Power of Attorney more frequently. 

“With the Financial Power of Attorney, we sometimes recommend updating them a little more frequently, and that’s because we’re seeing more and more issues with banks not taking them if they’re more than four to five years old,” McFadden said.  “They should– it says I want this in effect until my death. But because we’re having that issue, it works out to say let’s look at this every [couple of years], even if you’re signing the same document. That way, if something does happen, your agent can fight with the bank over a two-year-old document and not a 10-year-old document.”

While families may consider using online services to sign these documents virtually due to their low cost, McFadden says that these resources often fall short.  Many of these sites are either not state-specific or offer general templates. According to McFadden, her and her sister’s firm understand what certain county offices in Ohio require, ensuring that clients’ documents are tailored to meet specific regulations. For this reason, she says families should work with professionals rather than relying on online options. 

“If you end up doing the cheaper option online,  there could be issues later and when there are issues, you don’t want to run into them when you’re child is in the hospital and the documents don’t do what they need to do and you’re calling a number on a website and nobody is going to respond,” McFadden said.  

Families interested in starting the process with McFadden Bushnell can begin by visiting the firm’s website, completing the Young Adult Preliminary Profile, and scheduling an online appointment with staff to discuss planning. In the appointment, the family and the firm create the documents and name the trusted adults so the families can then simply come into the office and sign the documents. 

“Once these documents are in place, it just lets parents have that be one less thing they have to worry about,” McFadden said. “But also for the young adult,  this just makes sure that you are making it clear these are your people, these are who you trust, and if anything happens, you want to make sure they are able to step in and help.’”

Dawn McFadden and her sister, Christina Bushnell, founded McFadden Bushnell to help clients with estate planning, elder law planning, special needs planning, and probate matters. McFadden attended law school at Case Western Reserve University and is admitted to practice law in Ohio, Florida, New York, and North Carolina. McFadden can be reached by phone at 216-714-0090 or via email at dawn@mcfaddenbushnell.com