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Usually when an adult child leaves for college, the young adult’s parents are proud and do not want to do anything to spoil his or her moment. Parents in Florida and other states have usually made preparations in order to be ready to assist their college-aged children in case they need help with something. Many times this may include helping to pay for room and board as well as some other expenses. However, one thing parents usually forget to do is some simple estate planning for their college-aged children.
Most parents are not aware that their college-aged child may need an estate plan since most young people this age have not accumulated many assets. However, a good estate plan does more than just protect assets, it also provides a backup in the case that a person becomes incapacitated and unable to make decisions regarding medical care or finances. This is important for college-aged children because in most states if a person is at least 18-years-old he or she is legally considered an adult.
Being a legal adult provides a person with several legal protections, including a protection to privacy. This prevents their parents from being able to access their financial accounts and medical records. It also stops parents from being able to make decisions on their behalf. However, with a power-of-attorney document the young adult will be able to give his or her parents the legal authority to make medical and financial decisions on his or her behalf in the case of being incapacitated.
Even with little assets, such as with most young college students, it is still important to do some estate planning. On the other hand, those who are older and may have more assets may also want to consider creating estate planning documents to address those issues as well. However, each individual case in Florida and other states is different and a good estate plan will take one’s specific circumstances into consideration.