Your Child Turns 18 and Heads to College. Here’s What the Law Just Did.

It is one of the strangest blind spots in the law, and it arrives at the worst possible time. The day your child turns eighteen — usually right as they are leaving for college — they become a legal adult. And overnight, you lose the authority you have had over their affairs their entire life.

Most parents never think about it until something goes wrong. Here is what actually changes, and how to fix it before move-in day.

The hospital can’t talk to you

If your adult child is in an accident or hospitalized, federal privacy law (HIPAA) generally prevents doctors from sharing their medical information — even with a parent. You could be in the waiting room and unable to get a straight answer about your own child’s condition.

The university can’t either

Under the federal education-privacy law (FERPA), once your child is an adult and enrolled in college, the school will not discuss grades, tuition accounts, or disciplinary matters with you without the student’s authorization — even when you are the one paying the bill.

And no one can step in financially or legally

If a financial or legal problem arises while your child is away — a lease dispute, a banking issue, a matter that needs a signature — no one, including a parent, has authority to act on their behalf without a power of attorney in place.

None of this is a problem — until it is. And in an emergency is exactly the wrong time to discover the documents you need do not exist.

The fix is simple and inexpensive

A small set of documents, signed before your student leaves, solves all of it. The student grants the authority; the parents hold it. The core set includes:

• A durable power of attorney for financial and legal matters;
• A healthcare power of attorney naming a parent to make medical decisions if the student cannot;
• An advance directive stating the student’s own wishes about care;
• A HIPAA authorization so providers can share medical information; and
• A FERPA authorization so the school can share education records.

Do it before move-in

This is best handled alongside the dorm shopping — not after the first crisis. The firm offers a flat-fee College Legal Package built for exactly this moment, in both Louisiana and Mississippi versions for wherever your student is headed.