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Many parents don’t realize that their child who just graduated from high school needs to do some basic estate planning.
In Illinois, once your child becomes 18 they are officially and legally an adult. This means that your child can legally own property and make medical decisions for themselves.
This also means that unless your child names you as their Power of Attorney for Health Care and Power of Attorney for Property – you will not be able to automatically access their bank accounts or help them make medical decisions in a time of need.
I have had clients of college-age children over 18 years old not be able to see their child, access their child’s medical records, or make medical decisions for their child once their child was admitted to a hospital.
In order for parents to be able to help their child over 18 years old, their young adult child will need to sign Power of Attorney documents which name the parents as their Agents for Property and Medical related decisions.
I have written previous articles that give a helpful overview of both the Illinois Power of Attorney for Property and the Illinois Power of Attorney for Healthcare documents.
It's recommended that your 18 and over child have “Basic” Estate Plan documents signed and in place. This includes the following documents:
1. Power of Attorney for Healthcare
2. Power of Attorney for Property
3. Basic Will
At Ritchie Law Office, Ltd., we offer a Basic New Grad Estate Plan Package for new High School Graduates or anyone that:
is not over 22 years old
is not married
does not have children of their own
The New Grad Estate Plan Package includes having properly signed basic documents above where the parents are named as the primary Agents for Healthcare and Property. Your child would also have a Will that would say any of their assets would be distributed to the parents equally.
Call us at 309-660-7007 to learn more about how you can make sure your young adult child is protected with our New Grad Estate Plan Package.
This article is a service of Attorney Chad A. Ritchie and the Ritchie Law Office, Ltd.
Click Here or call (309) 662-7000 to learn more about Ritchie Law Office, Ltd. and our Estate Planning process, which starts with an initial consultation called our “Ritchie Legacy Planning Session”.
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