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Trusts & Estates

Estate Planning for College Students: What Changes When Your Child Turns 18

Melissa W. Chang
Oct 29 2026 14 min read
Key Takeaways

 

  • At 18, your child is a legal adult. In Massachusetts, parents generally have no automatic authority to make medical or financial decisions for their child or to access their child’s protected medical information, even if they pay tuition and provide health insurance.
  • A small set of documents can help fill the gap. A Health Care Proxy, HIPAA authorization, and Durable Power of Attorney allow your child to designate trusted individuals to act on their behalf. These documents address different needs, including making health care decisions if your child becomes incapacitated, accessing medical information, and managing financial matters. In many cases, a simple Will and a review of beneficiary designations are also worth considering.
  • Without appropriate advance planning, families may need to turn to the courts if a young adult becomes incapacitated. Depending on the circumstances, parents may need to petition the Massachusetts Probate and Family Court for appointment as a guardian to make personal and health care decisions, a conservator to manage financial matters, or both. These proceedings can involve additional time, expense and court oversight.

Each fall, Boston and Cambridge welcome thousands of college students from across the country and around the world. As the new academic year began, families helped their children move into dorms and settle into their new surroundings.

Now that the fall semester is well underway, many families have yet to address an item that rarely appears on a move-in checklist: estate planning for their young adult children.

When a child turns 18, they become a legal adult. In Massachusetts, parents generally no longer have automatic authority to make medical or financial decisions on their child’s behalf or access their child’s protected medical information, even if the child remains financially dependent on them or covered under a parent’s health insurance.

Whether your child has just started college or is preparing for the next stage of adulthood, now is a practical time to consider several essential estate planning documents. These documents allow young adults to designate trusted individuals to assist with medical and financial matters when needed and can help families avoid uncertainty and delays in an emergency. Without appropriate planning, parents may need to petition the Probate and Family Court for the appointment of a guardian or conservator if their child becomes incapacitated, a process that can be time-consuming, costly and subject to court oversight.

Health Care Proxy: Who Makes Medical Decisions If Your Child Cannot?

A Massachusetts Health Care Proxy allows a young adult to designate someone—often a parent—as their health care agent to make health care decisions on their behalf if they become

unable to make or communicate those decisions themselves. The document can also name an alternate agent to serve if the initial agent is unable or unwilling to serve.

The document does not take decision-making authority away from the young adult while they remain capable of making their own decisions. Instead, it allows the designated agent to step in once the young adult is determined by their attending physician to lack the capacity to make or communicate health care decisions.

Consider, for example, a college student who is seriously injured in an accident and becomes incapacitated. A parent may naturally expect to be able to make medical decisions for their child, but once the child is an adult, that authority is no longer automatic. A properly executed Health Care Proxy can help facilitate medical decision-making during an already stressful situation.

HIPAA Authorization: Who Can Access Your Child’s Medical Information?

A Health Care Proxy should generally be accompanied by a HIPAA authorization (under the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) or medical information release.

While a Health Care Proxy addresses who may make medical decisions if your child becomes unable to do so, a HIPAA authorization allows your child to authorize health care providers to share specified medical information with designated individuals.

This distinction can be important even when your child remains capable of making their own decisions. For example, if a student is hospitalized while away at college, an appropriate authorization may allow a parent or another trusted person to obtain relevant medical information and communicate more effectively with health care providers. Students may also wish to complete their college health center’s own release forms, as some campus health and counseling records are governed by FERPA (discussed below) rather than HIPAA.

A HIPAA authorization does not grant medical decision-making authority, but it can help trusted individuals stay informed and provide support when needed.

Durable Power of Attorney: Who Can Manage Your Child’s Financial and Legal Advice?

Medical decisions are only one part of the picture. A Durable Power of Attorney allows your child to appoint a trusted person—often a parent—as their agent to handle financial, legal, and administrative matters on their behalf.

Depending on how the document is drafted, the appointed agent may be authorized to manage bank and investment accounts, pay bills, handle leases and other housing arrangements, address insurance claims and tax matters, assist with student loan and financial aid matters, sign contracts, and deal with government agencies and financial institutions.

The word “durable” is important: it means that the authority granted under the document continues even if the person who signed it later becomes incapacitated. A Durable Power of Attorney does not cover health care decisions, which are addressed by the Health Care Proxy.

A Durable Power of Attorney may be drafted to take effect immediately or only upon your child’s incapacity, as specified in the document.

For a young adult living away from home, this flexibility can be particularly valuable. An immediately effective Power of Attorney may allow a trusted agent to assist with financial or administrative matters as needed, even while your child remains capable of handling those matters independently. By contrast, a Power of Attorney that becomes effective upon incapacity authorizes the agent to act only after the conditions specified in the document have been satisfied.

Families and their wealth advisors should also be aware that some banks and brokerage firms have specific requirements for accepting a Power of Attorney, and some may request additional documentation or institution-specific forms. Confirming those requirements in advance can help prevent delays when the document is needed.

Does an 18-Year-Old Need a Will?

A Will may not seem like an obvious document for an 18-year-old, particularly if your child has not yet accumulated significant assets. Nevertheless, it is worth considering as part of their estate planning process.

For an unmarried young adult with no descendants, the default rules that apply when a person dies without a Will may align with their wishes: their probate assets generally pass to their surviving parents, equally if both survive or entirely to the surviving parent.

However, relying on intestacy does not provide the same level of control as a Will.

A simple Will allows your child to designate the person they want to serve as Personal Representative (the Massachusetts term for an executor), direct the disposition of personal or sentimental property, and specify how their probate assets should be distributed.

A Will becomes particularly important if your child wishes to leave assets to a sibling, unmarried partner, friend, charity, or anyone else who would not otherwise inherit under Massachusetts intestacy law.

A Will is also worth considering if your child owns significant assets, has inherited property, or has family circumstances in which the default intestacy rules may not reflect their wishes.

Although a Will may not be essential for every young adult, it offers an opportunity to make important decisions about the administration and disposition of their estate rather than leaving those matters entirely to the default rules.

Beneficiary Designations, Digital Assets, and Educational Records

As your child begins working and accumulating assets, their estate planning needs may expand beyond these foundational documents.

A first job may bring a retirement account, employer-provided life insurance, or other benefits requiring beneficiary designations. Bank and investment accounts may also permit payable-on-death or transfer-on-death beneficiary designations.

These designations should be reviewed because assets passing directly to designated beneficiaries generally are not controlled by the terms of a Will.

Your child may also have a significant digital life. Online financial accounts, cloud storage, social media accounts, cryptocurrency, photographs, and other digital assets may raise practical questions about who can access or manage them in the event of incapacity or death.

Including express authority over digital assets in the Durable Power of Attorney and Will can help a trusted agent or Personal Representative access and manage digital assets, subject to applicable laws and terms of the relevant service providers. Addressing these matters as part of the planning process can help ensure that important assets and information are not overlooked.

For college students, families may also wish to consider appropriate authorizations for educational records, which are subject to separate privacy rules under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). Many colleges provide their own release forms for this purpose. Depending on the circumstances, students attending college outside Massachusetts may also benefit from reviewing their documents with counsel familiar with the laws of the state where they attend school. Likewise, families from other states whose children attend school in Massachusetts should confirm that documents prepared at home will be recognized and accepted by Massachusetts hospitals and financial institutions.

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Additional Considerations for High-Net-Worth Families

For families with significant wealth, a child’s 18th birthday may also bring attention to other planning issues.

  • Custodial accounts. Assets held for a child under the Massachusetts Uniform Transfers to Minors Act generally must be transferred to the child at age 21, although certain custodianships terminate at age 18, depending on how the assets were transferred. Families should plan for that transition, including whether the young adult is prepared to manage the funds.
  • Trust interests. A young adult may be a beneficiary of a family trust that permits distributions or grants withdrawal rights at specified ages. The young adult’s own estate planning documents should be coordinated with those trusts, and the agent named in the Durable Power of Attorney should understand the young adult’s beneficial interests and any rights or powers they may hold under the trusts.
  • Estate tax coordination. Under intestacy laws, the assets in the probate estate of an unmarried young adult with no children generally pass to the parents, where they may add to the parents’ own taxable estates. For families whose estates may be subject to federal or Massachusetts estate tax (the latter generally applying to estates exceeding $2 million), a Will that directs those assets to siblings or to a trust may offer estate tax planning opportunities, depending on the family’s circumstances.
  • Family business and real estate interests. If a young adult holds an interest in a family entity or in real estate, the governing documents may restrict transfers or require specific planning in the event of incapacity or death.
  • College savings accounts. Parents who own 529 accounts for their children should confirm that a successor owner is designated, if permitted by the applicable plan, to assume ownership in the event of the parent’s death, and review the plan’s procedures for addressing the account owner’s incapacity.
Estate Planning

For many Massachusetts young adults, an estate planning checklist may include the following documents and considerations:

  1. 1. Health Care Proxy: Naming a primary and alternate health care agent to make medical decisions if your child becomes unable to make or communicate those decisions.
  2. 2. HIPAA Authorization: Authorizing designated individuals to access specified protected medical information.
  3. 3. Durable Power of Attorney: Appointing a trusted agent to handle financial, legal, and administrative matters on your child’s behalf.
  4. 4. Will: Where appropriate, naming a Personal Representative and directing the disposition of probate assets
  1. 5. Beneficiary Designation and Asset Review: Reviewing beneficiary designations for retirement accounts, employer benefits, life insurance, and applicable bank and investment accounts, as well as the ownership of other significant assets.
  2. 6. Educational Records Release (FERPA): If desired, authorizing the college to disclose specified educational records, such as academic, enrollment, or student financial account information, to designated individuals.
  3. Importantly, these are your child’s documents. Your child must understand and voluntarily execute them, comply with the applicable execution requirements, and have the opportunity to independently choose the individuals they trust to act on their behalf.
When to Have the Conversation

Turning 18 is an exciting personal milestone, but it is also an important legal turning point.

Parents may continue paying tuition, providing health insurance, helping with housing, and serving as their child’s first call when something goes wrong. However, their legal authority to step in does not automatically continue once their child becomes an adult.

A few straightforward estate planning documents can help bridge that gap, allowing young adults to designate trusted individuals to assist with important medical, financial, and legal matters when needed.

Timing is often the practical obstacle. School breaks and holidays, when students are home and available to meet with counsel and sign documents, provide a natural opportunity for families to have this conversation and help their children prepare for the responsibilities and unexpected challenges that may come with adulthood. For young adults preparing to study abroad, start a first job, or move to another state, completing these documents beforehand can be especially valuable.

If your child has recently turned 18, is approaching their 18th birthday, or is preparing for college, the Trusts and Estates attorneys at Rubin Rudman can help your family develop an estate plan tailored to your child’s needs and circumstances.

FAQs

At what age do parents lose legal authority over their child in Massachusetts?

At 18, the age of majority. Once their child becomes a legal adult, parents generally no longer have automatic authority to make medical or financial decisions on their child’s behalf or access their protected medical information. A young adult can execute appropriate documents to authorize trusted individuals to act on their behalf or access specified information.

What is the difference between a Health Care Proxy and a HIPAA authorization?

A Health Care Proxy designates an agent to make medical decisions if the young adult is determined to lack the capacity to make or communicate those decisions. A HIPAA authorization permits health care providers to share specified medical information with designated individuals. The two documents are generally executed together.

Will these documents be recognized if my child attends college in another state?

Many states honor documents validly executed elsewhere, but state laws, execution requirements and institutional practices vary. Families should consider consulting counsel familiar with the laws of the state where the student attends college to confirm that the documents will be recognized and accepted.

Does a college student need a Will?

Not always. Without a Will, an unmarried young adult’s probate assets generally pass to their parents under Massachusetts law if the young adult has no descendants. A Will is worth considering if the student wishes to leave assets to someone else, owns significant or inherited assets, or has family circumstances that warrant additional estate tax planning.

Does a Durable Power of Attorney cover medical decisions?

No. A Durable Power of Attorney authorizes a designated agent to handle financial, legal, and administrative matters as specified in the document. Medical decisions are addressed by a Health Care Proxy.

When should a young adult sign these documents?

Ideally, soon after turning 18 and before leaving for college. School breaks, when students are home, can also provide a convenient opportunity to meet with counsel and execute the necessary documents.
Melissa W. Chang is a Massachusetts estate planning attorney in Rubin Rudman’s Trusts & Estates group. She advises individuals and families on estate planning, estate tax planning, and trust and estate administration, helping clients protect their assets, plan for the future, and navigate important life transitions. Her practice includes helping young families plan for children, guiding individuals through generational wealth transfer, developing estate plans that provide for beloved pets, and assisting families with the administration of a loved one’s estate. Melissa combines practical legal guidance with a compassionate, personalized approach.
Learn more about Melissa Chang and her Trusts & Estates practice.
Melissa W. Chang
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