When your child is a minor, you are accustomed to handling many of the decisions that affect their health, finances, and daily life. Then, almost overnight, the legal relationship changes.
In New York, once your child turns 18, they are an adult under the law. That means you may no longer have the authority you had when they were a minor to make health care decisions or access their protected health information simply because you are their parent. That can create a difficult situation if your 19-year-old is injured at college, your 22-year-old has an unexpected medical emergency while traveling, or your young adult is suddenly unable to communicate with doctors.
The good news is that families can usually address this before a crisis occurs. New York recommends that everyone over age 18 have a health care agent, including young adults heading to college or living away from home.
What Changes When Your Child Turns 18?
For parents, turning 18 can feel like a milestone. Legally, however, it is much more than a birthday.
Your child now has the rights of an adult, including control over their own medical information and decisions. Under HIPAA, an adult’s health information generally belongs to that individual. A parent does not automatically become the adult child’s personal representative simply by being the parent. An adult can instead designate someone to act on their behalf, including through a health care power of attorney or other legally recognized authority.
That distinction matters most when your child cannot speak for themselves.
Imagine receiving a call that your college student has been taken to the hospital after an accident. You know your child is there. You know they need medical attention. But the hospital may still need to determine who has legal authority to make decisions or access information.
This is where advance planning can make an enormous difference.
A Health Care Proxy Gives Your Young Adult a Decision-Maker
In New York, a Health Care Proxy allows an adult to appoint someone they trust to make health care decisions if they lose the ability to make those decisions themselves.
That person is called a health care agent. Your young adult can choose a parent, another family member, or another trusted person. New York’s Department of Health specifically recommends that everyone over age 18 have a health care agent.
The Health Care Proxy can be particularly important for a young adult who is:
- Leaving for college,
- Living in another state,
- Traveling without their parents,
- Participating in an activity with some risk of injury, or
- Simply beginning life as an independent adult.
The New York Health Care Proxy form also allows an individual to provide instructions or limitations regarding the agent’s authority.
The important point is not simply having a document. Your young adult should understand what it does, choose someone they trust, and talk with that person about their wishes.
What About HIPAA?
HIPAA is often the first thing parents hear about when discussing their adult child’s medical information.
A HIPAA authorization can allow your young adult to identify people who may receive their protected health information. That can help facilitate communication with health care providers.
But it is important to understand the distinction: a HIPAA authorization is not the same thing as appointing someone to make medical decisions.
HIPAA generally recognizes a person as an adult’s personal representative when that person has legal authority under applicable law to make health care decisions for the individual. An authorization can address information-sharing, while a Health Care Proxy addresses who can make health care decisions when the young adult cannot.
Depending on the family’s circumstances, it may make sense to discuss both.
A Financial Power of Attorney Matters, Too
A medical emergency does not necessarily affect only health care decisions.
What happens if your young adult is hospitalized and cannot manage their bank account, pay a bill, handle a tax matter, or deal with another financial issue?
A durable financial power of attorney can authorize a trusted person to handle financial and legal matters on the young adult’s behalf when appropriate.
The person your child chooses could be a parent, another relative, or another trusted adult. Because a financial power of attorney can provide significant authority, choosing the right person matters.
This is one reason young adult planning should be approached as a conversation rather than simply a stack of forms.
Why College Is a Good Time to Have the Conversation
Sending a child off to college often involves a long list of practical preparations: tuition, housing, health insurance, textbooks, transportation, and what to pack.
Legal planning may not make the list.
It should.
New York’s Department of Health specifically identifies going to college as one of the life events that should prompt consideration of a Health Care Proxy.
The conversation does not have to be dramatic. In fact, it can be surprisingly straightforward:
Who would you want to make medical decisions if you could not?
Who should be able to communicate with doctors about your care?
Who could handle your finances if you were temporarily unable to do so?
Does that person know what you would want?
These are adult decisions, which means your young adult should be involved in making them.
Planning Should Reflect Where Your Young Adult Lives
One additional consideration is location.
If your child lives in New York but attends school elsewhere, or lives in another state, the laws governing the documents and their use may differ.
That does not mean families need to become experts in every state’s laws. It does mean that a young adult’s planning should be reviewed with their actual circumstances in mind.
For a family in the Capital Region, Columbia County, or the surrounding Hudson Valley, that might mean considering both where your child lives and where they are likely to receive care.
Your Child Is an Adult. Planning Can Still Be a Family Conversation.
This transition also has an emotional side.
When your child turns 18, you are not suddenly expected to stop being their parent. But your role changes. They are becoming responsible for making their own legal and medical decisions, and good planning gives them an opportunity to decide who they want beside them if they cannot make those decisions themselves.
That is a meaningful step toward adulthood.
For parents, it can also provide reassurance. Instead of wondering what would happen if an emergency occurred, you can have a conversation, put the appropriate documents in place, and know that your young adult has made deliberate choices.
Estate planning is not only about what happens later in life. Sometimes, it is about making sure your family knows what to do right now if something unexpected happens.
If your child is 18 or older and you haven’t discussed these documents yet, now is a good time to start.
Schedule a 15-minute discovery call with our Welcome Coordinator today!
Morgen M. Bowers, Esq., Founder, Four Corners Legacy Law
This article is a service of Four Corners Legacy Law. We don’t just draft documents; we ensure you make informed and empowered decisions about life and death, for yourself and the people you love. Attorney Advertising. This content is for educational and informational purposes only and is not legal advice. Reading, viewing, or interacting with this content does not create an attorney-client relationship. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.