Estate Planning for Young Adults and College Students
Congratulations! You graduated high school or college and are ready to start adulting. Moving into your new dorm. Meeting or seeing new friends. Long days and nights studying. Fun on the weekends – of course! College and post-grad is supposed to be a fun and enlightening time. But with the fun, also comes some responsibility.
Welcome to Adulthood – Under the Law anyway
As soon as you turn 18, the law says that you are an official adult. Maybe you are still living with your parents, so you don’t feel like an adult. But if something happens to you, they have no legal rights to make decisions on your behalf.
Important Adult Decisions: Who do you Trust to Help?
You can appoint someone you trust to take care of your affairs if something happens to you. This may be one or both of your parents, an aunt or uncle, a sibling, or a trusted friend.
Document Your Selections and Authorized Powers
The basic and simple documents to appoint a trusted person is a Health Care Proxy and Power of Attorney.
In the Health Care Proxy, you choose the first person that you want to be responsible to speak with doctors and hospital staff, make medical decisions about treatment and surgery, and choose to withhold life support if you are in a catastrophic health situation. You can appoint more than one person, in successive order.
This document only takes effect if you cannot communicate your own preferences. This might occur if you are in a coma. So long as you are still able to communicate, you have complete control over your own health care decisions.
In the Power of Attorney, you may authorize one or more persons to make financial decisions on your behalf. This might include speaking with your bank, communicating with your Bursar office, or paying your outstanding expenses.
This document is useful even if you are not sick or injured. It may provide convenience to your agent to assist in your financial affairs while you are on campus and away from home.
Easy to Prepare and Sign
In order to prepare a Health Care Proxy, you need to provide your name and home address and the name, home address and telephone numbers of your selected agents. Once the document is prepared, you must sign it in the presence of two witnesses. That’s it!
Preparing a simple Power of Attorney is just as easy. Provide the name and home address of your chosen agents. Decide if you want them to be able to work separately or if they must act together. Once the document is prepared, you must initial it in certain sections, sign and date it in the presence of two witnesses and a notary. That’s it!
An attorney can easily prepare these documents for you. Once you have them signed, they are valid until you decide to execute a new document. This means you sign once, and you may be covered for many years without having to think about it again. But you have the peace of mind that someone is appointed to take care of you and your affairs if you cannot do so.
Now is the Perfect Time
The summer or winter break is an ideal time to prepare these documents. It give you the opportunity to consider and decide who should be your agents, work with an attorney to prepare and sign the documents, and have it done before you head back to your studies.
Flat-Fee for Young Adults (ages 18-24)
Our office is currently offering these important documents to young adults (between the ages of 18 and 24) for a low flat-fee of $175 per document. We can turn them around for your signature within 2 weeks. This includes supervising the execution and providing witnesses and a notary. Do not hesitate to contact me if you would like assistance.