Most parents spend months preparing their kids for college — dorm supplies, tuition payments, orientation schedules. Almost none of them think about the legal paperwork.
But here's something that surprises almost every parent I work with: the day your child turns 18, you legally lose the ability to make decisions for them. Medical decisions. Financial decisions. All of it.
Your 18-year-old is now, in the eyes of Florida law, an adult — and their private health and financial information is no longer available to you without their explicit written permission.
This becomes a real problem the first time there's an emergency.
The Scenario Nobody Wants to Think About
Your 19-year-old is in college in Gainesville. They're in a serious accident. They're unconscious and in the ICU.
You're in South Florida. You call the hospital. They won't tell you anything — not their condition, not what treatment they're receiving, not whether they've had surgery.
Because your child is an adult, HIPAA privacy laws apply. The hospital cannot share protected health information with you without your child's authorization. And your child is unconscious.
Without the right documents in place, you could be standing in a hospital hallway, unable to speak with your child's doctors or make decisions on their behalf, even in a life-threatening situation.
This happens. And it's entirely preventable.
Three Documents Every Florida College Student Needs
1. HIPAA Authorization
A HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) authorization is a written permission that allows your child's healthcare providers to share medical information with specific people — typically parents.
This isn't the same as a healthcare surrogate designation (see below), but it's the first document that gets invoked in any medical situation. Without it, nurses and doctors at a college health center or hospital cannot legally speak to you about your child's care.
A properly executed HIPAA authorization names you (and possibly a second parent or other trusted person) and allows providers to share information with those individuals.
2. Healthcare Surrogate Designation
Florida's healthcare surrogate designation (also called a healthcare proxy in other states) gives your named person the legal authority to make medical decisions on your child's behalf if they're unable to.
The HIPAA authorization lets you receive information. The healthcare surrogate designation lets you act on it.
Without this document, if your child is incapacitated and cannot consent to treatment, doctors may have to seek a court order to proceed — a process that takes time no one has in an emergency. With it, you step in immediately.
This document should also be paired with a living will that states your child's wishes about life-prolonging treatment in end-of-life situations. It's a difficult conversation for families to have, but an important one.
3. Durable Financial Power of Attorney
The financial power of attorney designates a person (typically a parent) to handle financial and legal matters on a college student's behalf if they're unable to.
Practical uses:
- Accessing a bank account to pay bills if your child is hospitalized
- Speaking with their university about financial aid or tuition matters
- Managing any financial obligations if they become incapacitated
Without this document, you cannot legally access your child's bank accounts, even if you're the one depositing money into them. You cannot speak to their university about financial matters. You cannot handle their financial affairs, period.
A durable power of attorney survives incapacity — it's effective even if your child is unconscious or mentally incapacitated.
What About Sharing These Documents?
These documents need to be in the right places before they're needed:
- Your child should keep signed copies in a secure but accessible location — not locked in a safe they can't get to in an emergency
- You should have copies
- A digital copy stored securely (a password manager, a secure cloud folder) can be accessed from anywhere
Many college students also include a healthcare surrogate card in their wallet with the name and phone number of their designated surrogate.
This Isn't Just for College
These documents are relevant for any adult child — a 22-year-old living across the country, a 25-year-old who travels for work. The legal logic is the same: once your child is 18, you have no legal authority without their explicit written permission.
The college departure date is just the natural moment when families think about it. If your adult children don't have these documents in place, it's worth addressing regardless of where they live.
A Word on Your Own Estate Plan
While you're addressing documents for your college student, it's also worth reviewing your own estate plan. If your plan names minor children and those children are now legal adults, some documents — including guardianship designations in your will and trust provisions — may need to be updated.
The moment your child turns 18, several assumptions your estate plan was built on may no longer apply.
These three documents can be prepared quickly and don't require complex planning. If your child is heading to college, it's one of the most practical things you can do before move-in day.
Schedule a consultation to get these documents in place for your college student.