Does your child need a young adult legal plan in case of emergency?

By Attorney Edward Jesson - Updated June 2025

While preparing a child to start college in the fall, one important consideration is creating legal powers of attorney allowing you to make healthcare, financial, or legal decisions for your child in the event of an emergency.  Once a child turns eighteen, the child is considered an adult by law, which means that parents are no longer given access to their child’s financial, health, and educational records without the adult child’s consent. In an emergency, a child may not be able to give consent, and having power of attorney documents in place in advance will grant the parent access to their child’s information without having to resort to court intervention. It is important to note, that your children must be 18 in order to sign these documents.

A Healthcare Power of Attorney allows a person to name an agent to make healthcare decisions on their behalf if the person is unable to communicate their wishes to their medical providers. Both the Health Care Power of Attorney and HIPAA release allows medical providers to share private health information with a designated agent. Without these authorizations, medical providers are legally prohibited from releasing such information. No parent should be put in the position of being in a different state from their child and being told that their child has been hospitalized, but the hospital is unauthorized to release any other information about the child’s condition or care. A Healthcare Power of Attorney can avoid this situation and allows parents to easily step in and access medical information during an emergency. It also allows your child to include instructions relating to their healthcare, including wishes related to organ donation or wishes relating to religious or cultural practices. The student can keep these documents on file with their university or medical provider so that it can be easily accessed if needed.

A Durable Power of Attorney allows a person to name an agent to make legal, financial, and business decisions on their behalf if the person becomes incapacitated (unable to handle their affairs). It can be used to allow parents to help pay a child’s bills, access the child’s personal bank account or education records, or manage the child’s finances or legal decisions in an emergency. Without a Durable Power of Attorney, you would not be able to manage these decisions during an emergency without first being appointed by a court as the child’s legal guardian—which can be a lengthy process.

If your child is heading to college out of state without legal documents in place, that state’s laws will determine who can make decisions if your child becomes incapacitated. In North Carolina, if an unmarried adult doesn't have a health care power of attorney, a majority of their parents can make medical decisions together. But other states may not name a default decision-maker at all. For legal or financial matters, no state, including North Carolina, automatically allows parents to act; you'd have to go to court to be appointed as your child’s legal guardian. The guardianship process can be stressful, time-consuming, and expensive, especially during an already difficult time.

Having powers of attorney in place before your child leaves for college ensures you can step in during an emergency without court involvement. If your child is a North Carolina resident and executes North Carolina documents, these documents are generally valid in other states.

Parents should know that the adult child must be the one to hire the attorney, and they are free to name anyone they want to serve in these roles.

With orientation right around the corner for most college-bound young adults, be sure to add “prepare a young adult legal plan” to your family’s pre–move-in checklist. Having these critical documents in place will give you peace of mind, knowing you can support your child when they need it most.

Finally, now that your child is entering adulthood, it may be a good time for you to review your estate plan to make sure that it still meets all of your goals.

Please call Jesson & Rains if you have questions about these documents or want to learn more about protecting you and your child’s interests through estate planning.