You’re probably shocked that your child is old enough to be in college, let alone need an estate plan. Shocking, but true. Each and every person, age 18 and older, needs an estate plan. It’s likely that your college student’s estate plan will be very basic, but it’s important nonetheless.
Your child needs his own estate plan because, legally, he is an adult. This means that you are unable to make medical or financial decisions on his behalf without legal authorization.
Elements of a Typical College Students Estate Plan
- Simple Will, appointing an executor and distributing assets
- Power of Attorney for Health Care, appointing an agent to make health care decisions on his behalf if he cannot make those decisions himself
- HIPAA Release so that medical professionals are authorized to communicate with your child’s health care agent
- Living Will so that he is not hooked up to life support machines or subjected to other medical heroics if he is in an irreversible coma or persistent vegetative state
- Organ Donation Authorization so that your child can save up to 8 lives and enhance the lives of many others who have suffered trauma, blindness, or burns
- Power of Attorney for Finances, appoint an agent to make financial decisions and pay bills on his behalf if he cannot do so himself
Other Considerations for Your College Student
- If your college student has earned income, now is a great time to open a Roth IRA; just starting with small sums now, and adding consistently, will reap great rewards as life unfolds
- You may want to purchase a small life insurance policy on the life of your college student to cover funeral and burial expenses
- Make sure that your college student’s health care documents are available when needed; use an online document storage service such as Docubank (www.docubank.com.)
Make sure that your college student names contingent trusted helpers in his estate plan
Our firm is dedicated to providing you with quality estate planning resources, so you can become familiar with all of the existing options. When you visit or call our office, we want you to feel comfortable discussing such an important issue concerning both you and your family. We want to arm you with the information you need to make an informed decision about your family’s future About the Author !
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