Gap Legal Authority Documents
Protecting Young Adults Before an Emergency Arises
Matthew is going to college and living on his own for the first time. Months have been spent planning, applying to schools, and pursuing financial aid. Matthew’s parents made sure that he had a good computer, a credit card for emergencies, and even the special extra-long twin sheets for the dorm bed. When his parents drop him off at school, Matthew’s mother becomes emotional and cries. After they leave, so does Matthew.
Matthew’s parents will become even more emotional and distraught when they get a call a couple of months later from his roommate. Matthew is seriously ill and in the hospital. Matthew’s parents want information. The hospital cannot provide that information because Matthew is 18 years old and now officially an adult. An adult child. What they need are legal documents allowing the hospital to share information with the parents.
Under Colorado law, an individual is typically considered an adult at age eighteen. Parents have no legal authority to act on behalf of their adult child or to access personal or financial information. This fact can shock parents who have spent the past eighteen years with full access to their child’s information and the absolute authority to make medical and financial decisions. College medical emergencies can and do occur every day. Fortunately, this situation is easily avoided with just a few legal documents.
HIPAA release
Parents of young adults need Gap Legal Authority Documents (GLAD). GLAD is (1) a HIPAA release form, (2) a medical power of attorney and (3) a financial power of attorney.
GLAD allows access to the adult child’s healthcare information and provides the ability to make medical decisions for the child. Under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), health care professionals cannot share an adult child’s medical information with a parent unless the adult child has given permission. However, if the young adult pre-emptively completes a HIPAA release form for the parent, the medical records can be released to the parent. With a HIPAA release, a healthcare professional can share all the released information with the parent, even if the adult child is not, at that time, able to give a release. With a HIPAA release completed soon after a child’s eighteenth birthday, a family is prepared to receive information during any emergencies that later arise.
Medical Power of Attorney
Second, a healthcare power of attorney is indispensable for virtually anybody and especially a young adult off at school. If the principal (a/k/a the young adult) is incapacitated, the healthcare power of attorney allows the agent (a/k/a the parent) to make healthcare decisions on the principal’s behalf. Hospitals will not and cannot follow a parent’s decision regarding their adult child unless that parent has some other source of authority. A healthcare power of attorney can be completed in conjunction with a living will to express any wishes the principal may have regarding life-sustaining treatment should an injury or disease be severe enough for that issue to arise.
Financial Power of Attorney
The third helpful document is a financial power of attorney. A financial power of attorney, naming parents as agents, can be very helpful to the parents of a young adult as they help him or her begin the journey towards financial independence. A power of attorney generally assigns someone else the authority to act on your behalf. The person assigned that authority is referred to as the agent. The agent is considered a fiduciary and has certain duties to act prudently. A financial power of attorney gives the agent the authority to act of the behalf of the signer/principal regarding financial matters. The agent is given broad powers to be able to make most decisions and take most actions that the signer could in regards to the signer’s financial matters.
With the Gap Legal Authority Documents (a/k/a GLAD), the above story has a very different ending. Instead, assume that Matthew and his parents had visited an attorney a few weeks after his eighteenth birthday. Matthew signed a HIPAA release, a financial power of attorney, and a healthcare power of attorney naming his parents as his agents. When he becomes ill several months later, his mom emails to the hospital a copy of his HIPAA release and healthcare power of attorney. The nurse is then able to explain to Matthew’s parents his medical condition and treatment options. Matthew’s parents discuss the options and quickly decide on the option best for their son. Decision made. Treatment begins immediately.
When a child turns eighteen and leaves the nest to go away to school or work, it is natural for parents to worry. Reduce that worry by providing Gap Legal Authority Documents.
