You’ve spent 18 years as your child’s protector — making medical decisions, managing finances, and advocating on their behalf at every turn. Then they turn 18, head off to college, and legally, everything changes overnight.
The moment your child becomes a legal adult, you lose automatic access to their medical records, financial accounts, and the ability to make decisions on their behalf in an emergency. Most parents don’t realize this until they need it — and by then, it’s too late.
A Power of Attorney (POA) before college is one of the simplest, most important documents a young adult can have. It takes less than an hour to set up, costs very little relative to its value, and can be the difference between a family being able to help in a crisis and being completely shut out.
This post explains exactly what a POA is, why every college-bound young adult needs one, and what other documents should accompany it. If you’d like to explore your options, visit our Estate Planning practice area or schedule a consultation directly.
What Is a Power of Attorney?
A Power of Attorney is a legal document that authorizes another person — called the agent or attorney-in-fact — to act on someone’s behalf in financial, legal, or medical matters. The person granting that authority is called the principal.
For a college-bound young adult, a POA typically designates a parent (or both parents) as the agent, allowing them to step in and handle critical matters if the student is incapacitated, unavailable, or simply needs help navigating a situation they are not equipped to handle alone.
There are two primary types of POA that every college student should have:
1. Financial Power of Attorney
A financial POA authorizes your agent to manage financial matters on your behalf — including accessing bank accounts, paying bills, handling loans, and managing investments. If your college student is hospitalized for weeks and tuition is due, a financial POA allows you to step in and handle it without a court order.
Without one, even a parent who is fully funding their child’s education may be legally prohibited from accessing that child’s bank account or communicating with their financial institution.
2. Healthcare Power of Attorney (Healthcare Proxy)
A healthcare POA — also called a healthcare proxy or medical power of attorney — designates someone to make medical decisions on your behalf if you are unable to make them yourself. This is the document that determines whether a parent can authorize surgery, access treatment records, or speak with a doctor about their child’s condition.
Without a healthcare POA, a hospital may refuse to share any information with you — even if your child is unconscious — and may not allow you to participate in treatment decisions. This is not a hypothetical: it happens to families every year.
Why the Law Changes at 18
Under federal law — specifically HIPAA (the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) — medical providers are prohibited from sharing a patient’s health information with anyone the patient has not authorized, regardless of the relationship. Once your child turns 18, you are no longer automatically on that list. Your role as parent does not matter. Your insurance card does not matter. Decades of making their medical decisions do not matter.
The same principle applies to financial institutions. Once your child is a legal adult, their accounts, loans, and financial records belong to them — not to you.
This is not a flaw in the system. It is a feature designed to protect adult privacy. But it creates a real and immediate gap for families of college students, particularly in emergencies.
A HIPAA authorization form and a healthcare POA together close that gap. The HIPAA authorization allows your child’s providers to share information with you. The healthcare POA allows you to make decisions if your child cannot.
Real Scenarios Where a POA Before College Matters
It can be easy to dismiss this as worst-case-scenario planning. But consider how quickly any of these situations could unfold:
A serious accident or illness. Your child is in a car accident and is unconscious in a hospital two states away. Without a healthcare POA, the ER may not be able to tell you their condition, let alone allow you to authorize treatment.
A mental health crisis. College mental health emergencies are more common than most parents realize. Without the right documents in place, a parent may be unable to speak with a treating psychiatrist, access records, or participate in discharge planning.
Academic or financial emergencies. Tuition deadlines, financial aid disputes, loan paperwork — these all require access to your child’s financial records and accounts. Without a financial POA, you may be legally barred from helping even if you are paying every bill.
Study abroad. A student who becomes ill or injured overseas presents all of these challenges multiplied by international borders, language barriers, and time zones.
Simple logistics. Not every situation is a catastrophe. Sometimes a student just needs a parent to handle something back home — close an old account, sign a document, deal with a landlord — while they are focused on exams. A financial POA makes all of that possible without requiring your child to fly home.
What Documents Should a College-Bound Young Adult Have?
A POA before college is the foundation — but it is not the only document a young adult should have before leaving home. A basic legal package for a college-bound 18-year-old typically includes:
Power of Attorney (Financial)
Authorizes a trusted person to handle financial and legal matters on the student’s behalf.
Healthcare Power of Attorney / Healthcare Proxy
Designates who can make medical decisions if the student is incapacitated.
HIPAA Authorization
Explicitly authorizes medical providers to share health information with designated individuals. This is separate from the healthcare POA and is important even in non-emergency situations — allowing a parent to simply call and ask about a prescription or follow up on test results.
Living Will / Advance Directive
Outlines the student’s wishes regarding life-sustaining treatment in the event of a terminal condition or permanent unconsciousness. While this may feel premature at 18, it ensures those wishes are documented and relieves family members of an agonizing decision in an already devastating situation.
At Jacobson Family Law, our Estate Planning practice covers all of these documents — not just for young adults, but for families at every stage of life. You can explore our service packages to see how we bundle these documents for efficiency and value.
Why Estate Planning Isn’t Just for Older Adults
There is a persistent misconception that estate planning — wills, powers of attorney, healthcare directives — is something you do when you are older, wealthier, or sicker. That belief leaves young adults dangerously unprotected.
The truth is that the documents a young adult needs before college are among the most immediately practical in all of estate planning. They are not about death. They are about life — specifically, ensuring that the people who love a young adult can actually help them when something goes wrong.
For families going through divorce or separation, this is often an area that gets overlooked in the chaos of restructuring. If your child is approaching 18 and your family is navigating a divorce, it is worth making sure everyone is aligned on who has authority to act — and that those preferences are documented. Our Divorce Resources page and FAQs are good starting points if you have broader questions about how family law intersects with estate planning.
How to Get a POA Before College
The process is straightforward:
1. Decide who the agent will be. For most college students, this is one or both parents. The agent should be someone the student trusts completely, who is reachable in an emergency, and who understands the student’s values and wishes.
2. Work with an attorney. While POA forms exist online, a one-size-fits-all form may not reflect Maryland’s specific requirements or your family’s specific needs. An attorney ensures the document is properly drafted, executed, and legally enforceable.
3. Sign and notarize. Maryland requires Powers of Attorney to be signed before a notary public and, in some cases, witnesses. Your attorney will walk you through the execution requirements.
4. Distribute copies. Your child should keep a copy, you should keep a copy, and a copy should be on file with your child’s healthcare providers and financial institutions. Digital copies stored securely are also a good idea.
5. Revisit as life changes. A POA executed at 18 does not need to last forever. As your child’s life evolves — new relationships, financial independence, their own family — it is worth revisiting these documents periodically.
Resources for Young Adults and Their Families
Whether you are preparing a child for college or thinking about your own planning, Jacobson Family Law has resources to help:
- 📚 Divorce Resources — practical guides for families navigating major legal transitions
- 🎙️ Drama-Free Divorce Podcast — conversations about family law, life planning, and protecting the people you love
- 🛒 Stan Store — downloadable guides and tools available right now
- ❓ FAQs — answers to the questions Maryland families ask most
Frequently Asked Questions About POA Before College
Does my child have to give me a POA? No — a POA is entirely voluntary. Your child must willingly grant this authority. If they are reluctant, a conversation about why these documents matter (and that they can revoke them at any time) usually helps.
Can my child revoke the POA later? Yes. A principal can revoke a POA at any time, as long as they are mentally competent. The revocation should be in writing and communicated to anyone who has a copy of the original.
Does a POA give parents unlimited control? No. A POA can be drafted to be as broad or as limited as the principal chooses. Your child can authorize you to handle specific matters only — for example, financial transactions but not medical decisions — or grant general authority.
Does the POA expire when my child graduates? Not automatically. A durable POA remains in effect until it is revoked or the principal dies. Your child can update or revoke it as their circumstances change.
What if my child becomes incapacitated and there is no POA? Without a POA, a family member who needs to make decisions on the student’s behalf may need to petition a court for guardianship — a lengthy, expensive, and emotionally draining process. A simple POA executed before college eliminates this risk entirely.
Is a POA the same as being listed on a FAFSA or insurance policy? No. Being named on financial aid forms or an insurance policy does not grant legal authority to make decisions or access records. A POA is a separate, distinct legal document.
How much does it cost to set up a POA? At Jacobson Family Law, we offer estate planning packages that include the key documents a young adult needs before college at a straightforward, transparent fee. Contact us to learn more.
Set Up Your Child’s POA Before Move-In Day
The weeks before college are hectic — shopping for dorm supplies, managing financial aid, navigating orientation schedules. A Power of Attorney before college is one item on the pre-college checklist that is easy to skip and almost impossible to regret getting done.
At Jacobson Family Law, we make the process simple. We will walk your family through each document, explain exactly what it does, and make sure everything is properly executed before your child leaves for school.
Schedule a consultation today to get your young adult’s essential legal documents in place. You can also explore our Estate Planning practice area and service packages to see what’s included.
