Key Takeaways:
- Parents do not automatically control a child’s medical and financial decisions once the child turns 18.
- A HIPAA authorization can help parents receive medical information during an emergency.
- An advance health care directive lets a young adult name someone to make medical decisions if they cannot.
- A durable power of attorney allows a trusted person to handle financial matters during incapacity.
Move-in day is a whirlwind of orientation schedules, loft beds, and mini-fridges. What many Kentucky families do not realize is that once a child turns 18, parents no longer have the same automatic legal authority to receive information or make decisions for them. In an emergency, that change can create confusion and delay.
Under federal and state law, an 18-year-old is a legal adult, and parents no longer have automatic authority to access records, manage finances, or make decisions in the same way they did when the child was a minor. Working with a Kentucky estate planning lawyer before the fall semester begins is the practical, low-cost way to make sure your family is protected if the unexpected happens.
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Why Does Turning 18 Change Anything?
The federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act—HIPAA—limits when health care providers may share a patient’s protected medical information, especially when the person asking is not the patient’s legally authorized representative. Once your child turns 18, a parent may no longer be treated as the default person entitled to receive that information.
A hospital treating your student after a car accident, serious illness, or mental health crisis may be limited in what it can share unless your child has signed a HIPAA authorization or another valid document giving you the right to receive information.
The same principle applies to finances. Banks and financial institutions may refuse to discuss an adult child’s accounts with a parent without legal authorization. If your student is incapacitated and cannot manage their own affairs, you may need to go to court to seek guardianship or conservatorship—a process that takes time and money your family may not have in an emergency.
Two Documents Every College Student Should Have
Before your student packs for campus, set aside time for two legal documents. They let a parent step in during a medical or financial emergency without delay and without a court.
Medical Power of Attorney
A medical power of attorney names a trusted adult, usually a parent, as the person authorized to make health care decisions for your child if your child cannot make them on their own. It can also record your child's wishes on specific treatments, including resuscitation and end-of-life care, so the agent is not guessing if a decision is required.
The medical power of attorney we draft includes a HIPAA authorization. That authorization directs doctors, hospitals, and other providers to release your child's protected health information to the people named in the document. Without it, a physician may be limited in what they can tell you about your child's condition, planned procedures, or even whether your child is being treated there. Combining the two in one document means the agent has both the authority to decide and the information needed to decide.
Durable General Power of Attorney
A durable general power of attorney gives a designated agent, again usually a parent, the legal authority to handle financial matters on the student's behalf. That includes managing a bank account, paying bills, dealing with the school's bursar and financial aid office, and working with financial institutions if the student is hospitalized or otherwise incapacitated.
Under Kentucky's Uniform Power of Attorney Act (KRS Chapter 457), a power of attorney is durable by default. It remains effective if the person who signed it becomes incapacitated, which is when it is most likely to be needed.
What Happens Without These Documents?
Families who have not signed these documents before an emergency are often surprised by what they cannot do. Parents may find that:
- A hospital may be limited in what it can share about an adult child's condition.
- A doctor may be unable to rely on a parent for medical decisions without written authority.
- A bank may refuse to discuss or grant access to the student's accounts.
- A parent who wants to make medical or financial decisions for an incapacitated adult child may have to petition a Kentucky court for emergency guardianship or conservatorship.
The power of attorney documents we draft for young adults are written to give parents the authority they need in these moments without taking more control over the student's affairs than the situation requires.
Is This Really Estate Planning for an 18-Year-Old?
Yes. Most people associate estate planning with wills and trusts and assume it is only relevant later in life. But estate planning covers more than what happens to property at death. It also covers the possibility that you, or your child, cannot manage your own affairs for a period of time. For a college student, that planning is a medical power of attorney and a durable general power of attorney.
Later, as your young adult builds a career and starts a family, these documents become part of a broader plan that may include a last will and testament, trusts, and other tools. Starting now puts the basic protections in place from the day legal adulthood begins.
Does Kentucky Law Have Any Special Requirements?
Yes. Under Kentucky law, a power of attorney must be signed by the principal or by someone signing at the principal's direction and in the principal's conscious presence. Acknowledging the signature before a notary is not required, but it matters. A notarized power of attorney carries a legal presumption that the signature is genuine, and under KRS 457.200 a bank or other institution that receives one must accept it within seven business days or request a certification or attorney's opinion. An institution that refuses without a reason the statute allows can be held liable for its refusal. A power of attorney that is signed but not notarized has neither protection.
A medical power of attorney in Kentucky must be in writing, dated, signed, and either witnessed by two adults or acknowledged before a notary or other authorized officer. Kentucky law restricts who may serve as a witness. A form printed off the internet may not meet these requirements, and a document that does not comply with Kentucky's execution rules may not be honored when it is needed.
Our attorneys will make sure your child's documents are drafted and signed correctly before move-in day. We also counsel families on practical steps, such as keeping copies where they can be found and making sure the named agents know where the originals are.
What About Students Who Attend School Out of State?
A Kentucky power of attorney signed and notarized in Kentucky may be accepted in another state, but whether a particular hospital, school, or bank will honor it depends on that state's law and the institution's own rules. A medical power of attorney is the document most worth reviewing if your student is leaving Kentucky, because health care providers tend to be the most cautious about out-of-state documents.
Ask our team whether any additional steps make sense for the state where your student will be living. The durable general power of attorney we draft is written to satisfy Kentucky's requirements and to be recognized as widely as possible elsewhere, and our attorneys will walk you through any state-specific issues that apply to your family.