The Ultimate 18th Birthday Gift: Legal Documents to Safeguard Your Teen’s Future
As your teen gets older, it becomes your responsibility to ensure they are ready to tackle all of the legal aspects of adulthood. While that 18th birthday may be one where you are a bit saddened by their growth but proud of their accomplishments, it’s also the official transfer into adulthood. If you have not done so yet, it’s time to safeguard your teen by ensuring they know what documents and valuables they need to maintain and how to do so.
Put aside factors like understanding credit and knowing what to do when they have a flat. Hopefully, they have mastered those objectives. Now, consider these essential conversations to have to safeguard your teen.
At SmithTaire Legal, we can help your teen get the support and guidance they need in making these critical decisions. Reach out to us for a consultation at any time on any of our services.
Power of Attorney & Medical Directives: Protecting Your Teen’s Future
No parent wants to ever think about such difficult situations. Yet, for those who find themselves with a tragic situation on their hands, having a pre-understood plan can be critical and assuring. Specifically, consider these two legal tools.
Power of Attorney
The Power of Attorney provides your now-adult with help should they need to make decisions about themselves that they cannot make on their own. For example, if they are unable to speak for themselves to consent to a medical procedure, the person named the POA can help them to do that.
Consider the value of this tool. If your child is in a car accident, unable to remember where they were the day before, a POA has the knowledge and insight to be able to make decisions for them based on what their wishes are. This is critically important especially if your teen already has any medical concerns or has strong wishes. Your teen needs to know how to choose a POA, what they can do, as well as how to revoke the POA when necessary.
Medical Directives
A medical directive is a legal document that informs medical providers about the specific wishes of a patient. If a person comes into an emergency room and suffers a serious injury, this directive helps to inform providers about the type and level of care that the individual desires (or does not desire). Again, this is a hard conversation to have with your teen, but doing so now allows them to be empowered to make decisions for themselves for years to come.
FERPA & HIPAA: Understanding Your Teen’s Medical and Educational Privacy Rights
Every person has rights in the US, but there are two key areas that you want to make sure your teen fully understands. This way, they are protected from violations made against them and are knowledgeable enough to know when they have to share information and when they should not.
FERPA
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act provides parents the right to have access to their child’s educational records. This also provides a right to have those records amended and have some control over the disclosure of personally identifiable information.
Many teens are applying to colleges. While that can be a good thing, you do not want your child’s personal information shared with third parties, and you want to be sure only the most accurate information is being shared.
HIPAA
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability ACT (HIPAA) is another very important civil rights tool. It allows for only those with verifiable reason to have access to sensitive medical information and health-related data. You do not want just anyone knowing what your health matters are unless you consent for them to have it.
Contracts and Credit Card: Equipping Your Teenager for Financial Independence (Safely!)
As soon as they turn 18, most teens receive lots of opportunities to open credit card accounts and take on loans. The problem is that these carry risk, and an unsuspecting teen may put themselves into a financial bind very quickly if they are unsure of what they should and should not be doing.
This is where having the right resources and education in place can help. Make sure that your teen understands what a contract is, how to read them, and the repercussions of signing them without actually reading or understanding them. The same applies to credit cards. You want to ensure your teen has all of the information and resources they need to make wise budgeting and financial decisions no matter how many credit card rewards are promised.
What Can You Do to Prepare Your Teen?
Whether they are in high school, university or working, when your child is reaching the age of 18, it’s time to have a discussion about each of these areas. Your goal is to give them knowledge and guidance, not necessarily to tell them what to do. Legally, they are now old enough to do make certain financial and legal decisions - and you help them understand the need and consequences for legal protection.
You can turn to our team for exceptional help and support throughout this process. At SmithTaire Legal, we can help with understanding many of the complex decisions a young adult has to make. This is a good time to introduce your teen to our team and let us help them to understand and meet their legal objectives including in areas like wills, estate planning, and trusts.
Every person’s needs are different. Let us talk to your young adult about their needs:
Financial concerns
Wills and trusts
Educational opportunities and offers
Trusts
Financial planning
Establishment of an estate plan – yes, even at a very young age
When you recognize the sheer amount of responsibility that falls on your child's shoulders when they reach the age of 18, it can be overwhelming. Yet, as a parent, you absolutely need to be able to provide your teen with the hands-on support they need, not to make decisions for them but to give them the power and freedom to do so.
Call a Gwinnett County Estate Planning Attorney Today
Let us help you and your young adult. Contact attorney Jammie Taire at SmithTaire Legal to learn more about how our attorneys can offer you the information and support you need to ensure your teen is safe. Contact our Gwinnett County estate planning attorney serving clients throughout Metro Atlanta now by calling (678) 253-8133.