Winsor Law Group Blog

By: Joseph Urtuzuastegui

Graduation season has official come-and-gone, and just like that many parents are preparing their young high school graduates to head off toward their next stage in life. Many young adults will be heading to a new city or even a new state to attend college and many parents will be left worrying about their children. This fear is natural, this will be the first time for many high school graduates that they will be out in the world on their own, and their parents will be experiencing some type of fear that their children will heed their advice that has been bestowed upon them for the prior eighteen years. Its hard to imagine anything happening to a loved one, especially a child, but there are a few ways to prepare for the unimaginable. Through a Financial Power-of-Attorney and a Health Power-of-Attorney, your new adult can be protected. These simple documents will allow a parent to be free from fear when it comes to who will have authority to care for their child if anything were to happen. Preparing for the unimaginable will allow for any parents who are soon to be “empty nesters” free from fear.

A Financial Power-of-Attorney (“FPOA”) is a simple way to allow somebody, in this case the parents of the college student, to manage any finances or access bank accounts if the college student were to become incapacitated. One premier example may be during spring break if your child has gone out of the country with a few friends and they get in some type of trouble, having a prepared FPOA readily available will allow you, as the guardian over the finances, to access any and all accounts necessary to assist your college student. More importantly is the security that both your college student and you will have by knowing that somebody is always looking out for their best interests. More importantly, the Health Power-of-Attorney (HPOA) for your college student will allow for more security knowing who will be making the most important decisions for their life when they need it the most. The HPOA will allow the designated guardian to make medical decisions if the college student were to become incapacitated, and this quite literally could be the difference between life and death. Preparing for the unimaginable will allow for any parents who are soon to be “empty nesters” free from fear.

*The information provided in this article is of a general nature and reflects only the opinion of the author at the time it was drafted. It is not intended as definitive legal advice, does not create an attorney-client relationship, and you should not act upon it without seeking independent legal counsel.