July 25, 2023

Two Documents That Every College Student Should Have (Episode #283)

You are sending your student away to college, but does she have theses 2 documents that every college student should have?

Spreaker podcast player iconApple Podcasts podcast player iconSpotify podcast player iconAmazon Music podcast player iconiHeartRadio podcast player iconRSS Feed podcast player iconCastro podcast player iconCastbox podcast player iconDeezer podcast player iconPodcast Addict podcast player iconPodchaser podcast player iconJioSaavn podcast player icon

You are sending your student away to college, but does she have theses 2 documents that every college student should have?

WEBVTT

1
00:00:30.039 --> 00:00:35.960
Well, good afternoon, Michiganders.
It is already Tuesday, July twenty five,

2
00:00:36.759 --> 00:00:40.960
twenty twenty three, and of course
this is Tuesday with Tom, Michigan's

3
00:00:41.000 --> 00:00:46.079
only weekly podcast where we do answer
your questions about a state planning and a

4
00:00:46.159 --> 00:00:50.079
state settlement in Michigan. As always, I'm your host, Tom Doyle,

5
00:00:50.359 --> 00:00:55.759
estate planning attorney, lifelong Michigan resident, and ambassador for all things good in

6
00:00:55.920 --> 00:01:02.280
this great state of Michigan. Welcome, welcome, welcome to today's program.

7
00:01:02.320 --> 00:01:07.280
As I said already July twenty five, I've taken a little early summer break

8
00:01:07.319 --> 00:01:14.480
from the program, but we're back
as July is winding down, we're quickly

9
00:01:14.519 --> 00:01:19.319
approaching August. The last episode,
though, if you go back in June,

10
00:01:21.120 --> 00:01:25.040
I talked about the six reasons to
have a trust and not a will.

11
00:01:25.159 --> 00:01:29.519
So if you're putting your estate plan
together, trying to figure out whether

12
00:01:29.599 --> 00:01:32.719
or not you should have a trust
or just have a will, I invite

13
00:01:32.760 --> 00:01:40.319
you to listen to the last episode. Well, coming up quickly for many

14
00:01:40.359 --> 00:01:44.439
of you, you're going to be
sending your children or perhaps grandchildren are going

15
00:01:44.480 --> 00:01:48.480
to be going off to college.
So today we're going to talk about two

16
00:01:48.599 --> 00:01:55.000
documents that every college student should have. But please remember that what I'm about

17
00:01:55.040 --> 00:02:00.959
to discuss during the program is,
as always for educational purposes own It is

18
00:02:00.040 --> 00:02:06.319
not intended to be legal advice.
You need to work with your attorney to

19
00:02:06.319 --> 00:02:10.960
determine what is appropriate for you and
your state plan. But we're going to

20
00:02:12.039 --> 00:02:19.000
go right to it. This is
actually a recording of a previous episode where

21
00:02:19.000 --> 00:02:23.439
I talked about the very same topic, and so I am going to insert,

22
00:02:23.560 --> 00:02:30.520
if you will, into the program
today that previous recording when I talked

23
00:02:30.560 --> 00:02:46.120
about two documents that every college student
should have. But let's just get right

24
00:02:46.159 --> 00:02:51.680
into today's topic. Don't send your
child off to college without these two essential

25
00:02:52.479 --> 00:02:55.319
documents. Your child goes off to
college, perhaps you bought them the new

26
00:02:55.400 --> 00:03:00.360
computer. Maybe some of you have
bought the car. When they graduated high

27
00:03:00.360 --> 00:03:04.960
school, They've got their clothes pack, they head off to school. One

28
00:03:04.960 --> 00:03:07.879
of the things that you're probably going
to make sure is that they have current

29
00:03:07.919 --> 00:03:14.159
health insurance card just in case.
Obviously you hope that there is nothing that

30
00:03:14.159 --> 00:03:17.520
that card is needed for, but
you're being the responsible parent and you're making

31
00:03:17.560 --> 00:03:23.080
sure that they have that card because
accidents do happen. Well what if?

32
00:03:23.960 --> 00:03:28.840
What if that accident does happen,
what's likely going to happen. You're going

33
00:03:28.879 --> 00:03:34.479
to receive a phone call telling you
that you're college student, maybe they've been

34
00:03:34.520 --> 00:03:38.560
in a serious accident, and maybe
they're in a hospital, and what are

35
00:03:38.599 --> 00:03:40.280
you going to do. I assume
you're going to be in contact with a

36
00:03:40.319 --> 00:03:45.599
hospital, or if you can,
as soon as possible, you'll get to

37
00:03:45.680 --> 00:03:51.000
the hospital so that you can take
care of your injured child. Now,

38
00:03:51.080 --> 00:03:54.360
what if, though, what if
when you arrive at the hospital, you're

39
00:03:54.479 --> 00:04:02.439
told that the hospital, because of
hippop cannot provide you with any information about

40
00:04:02.439 --> 00:04:11.240
your child's medical condition. Or maybe
important decisions are needed to make about your

41
00:04:11.360 --> 00:04:15.840
child's care. Maybe it's been a
very serious accident. Important decisions need to

42
00:04:15.840 --> 00:04:19.360
be made about your child's medical care, but the hospital staff is looking at

43
00:04:19.439 --> 00:04:27.519
you and saying you can't make them. Why we're parents, there are children.

44
00:04:27.879 --> 00:04:30.319
Of course we can make decisions for
our children. Well, what we

45
00:04:30.519 --> 00:04:38.040
sometimes forget is that parents do not
have any legal authority to make medical decisions

46
00:04:38.040 --> 00:04:43.959
for child once they turn eighteen.
Once they're eighteen, they are adults.

47
00:04:44.639 --> 00:04:50.199
We no longer have automatically under the
law of the legal authority to make medical

48
00:04:50.639 --> 00:04:56.519
decisions for them. So who does
who has a legal authority to make medical

49
00:04:56.560 --> 00:05:00.759
decisions for your adult child? Well, one a guardian. That would be

50
00:05:00.800 --> 00:05:06.519
a person who gets appointed by the
probate court. It's going to require having

51
00:05:06.560 --> 00:05:11.160
to go to probate court, obviously, it's going to take time. Certainly

52
00:05:11.240 --> 00:05:15.399
someone's going to be hiring a lawyer
like Commander myself to do that for them.

53
00:05:15.480 --> 00:05:19.800
That means it's going to likely be
expensive and in the end it might

54
00:05:19.839 --> 00:05:26.040
not be the person that you would
want. But once a guardian is appointed,

55
00:05:26.560 --> 00:05:30.040
then that guardian would have the legal
authority to tell the hospital what to

56
00:05:30.079 --> 00:05:35.279
do relative to your child's medical care. What's the alternative, Well, the

57
00:05:35.360 --> 00:05:43.920
alternative is a patient advocate who's been
named in a power of attorney for health

58
00:05:43.959 --> 00:05:50.079
care. It's a legal document.
It takes effect immediately when the child cannot

59
00:05:50.079 --> 00:05:56.000
communicate with his or her doctor about
their medical care. And essentially that patient

60
00:05:56.120 --> 00:06:00.879
advocate is now going to stand in
the shoes of your child to make the

61
00:06:00.920 --> 00:06:08.399
decisions that your child could make.
So in order for you to avoid having

62
00:06:08.439 --> 00:06:12.920
to go their route of having a
guardian appointed, what you should be doing

63
00:06:13.120 --> 00:06:17.399
is when your child goes off to
college, make sure that one of the

64
00:06:17.759 --> 00:06:26.279
essential documents that they have in place
is that healthcare power of attorney naming you

65
00:06:26.439 --> 00:06:31.360
or somebody else as the patient advocate, so that they will have the legal

66
00:06:31.399 --> 00:06:41.680
authority to respond if that emergency should
arise. But while you're at it,

67
00:06:41.759 --> 00:06:46.959
you should also have or your child
should also have a durable power of attorney

68
00:06:46.959 --> 00:06:51.560
for finances. Why again, parents
don't have any legal authority to manage what

69
00:06:51.639 --> 00:06:57.399
a child owns once they turn eighteen
just because their parents. Again, your

70
00:06:57.560 --> 00:07:01.560
child is an adult at age eighteen, and you have no rights to manage

71
00:07:01.759 --> 00:07:09.199
what they own. Well, who
does, similarly to who it is that

72
00:07:09.240 --> 00:07:15.720
makes medical decisions, one what we
call a conservator. A conservator again is

73
00:07:15.720 --> 00:07:19.040
somebody that's going to be appointed by
the probate court. You have to go

74
00:07:19.079 --> 00:07:23.639
to probate. You're likely going to
hire a lawyer, it's going to take

75
00:07:23.680 --> 00:07:27.240
time, you're going to spend money, and in the end it might not

76
00:07:27.480 --> 00:07:32.480
be the person that you would have
wanted or that your child would have wanted.

77
00:07:32.560 --> 00:07:38.920
But once a conservator is appointed,
then that conservator is the one who

78
00:07:38.959 --> 00:07:46.759
takes charge of your child's assets and
can manage those assets for them. Alternatively,

79
00:07:47.839 --> 00:07:54.720
your child, if they had a
legal document that's called a durable power

80
00:07:54.839 --> 00:07:59.839
of attorney. In that durable power
of attorney, they would appoint an agent

81
00:08:00.240 --> 00:08:05.560
or an attorney in fact. And
it is that agent or attorney in fact

82
00:08:05.040 --> 00:08:11.199
that then would have the legal authority
without going to probate court, would have

83
00:08:11.279 --> 00:08:18.279
the immediate legal authority to manage what
a child own. So obviously, if

84
00:08:18.279 --> 00:08:22.279
it's a serious accident, they might
still have bills that need to be paid.

85
00:08:22.319 --> 00:08:26.279
They still might have perhaps investments that
need to be manage, or car

86
00:08:26.360 --> 00:08:30.279
that needs to be handled or whatever
happens to be or or being in contact

87
00:08:30.319 --> 00:08:33.080
with a school about what's going on
with them at the school. All of

88
00:08:33.120 --> 00:08:39.159
those things are actions that still need
to be taken on behalf of your child.

89
00:08:39.320 --> 00:08:48.480
So again, the second document that
your client, I'm sorry that your

90
00:08:48.639 --> 00:08:52.600
child, not your client, that
your child should have when they go to

91
00:08:52.679 --> 00:08:58.840
college is going to be a power
of attorney. So my suggestion don't send

92
00:08:58.879 --> 00:09:05.639
your child off to college without a
power of attorney for healthcare, without a

93
00:09:05.759 --> 00:09:11.000
power of attorney for finances. And
it should go without saying, but if

94
00:09:11.200 --> 00:09:16.840
a man and I can be of
assistance to you, in putting together those

95
00:09:16.879 --> 00:09:22.279
documents for your child, even if
they're already away at college. I would

96
00:09:22.360 --> 00:09:26.399
suggest that you visit our website that's
at Doyle LAWPC dot com. There you're

97
00:09:26.399 --> 00:09:31.919
going to see information on how to
either schedule an appointment with us or your

98
00:09:31.039 --> 00:09:35.399
child with us to get those documents
prepared. In fact, we have our

99
00:09:35.519 --> 00:09:43.000
legal store that's available at the website
where those documents can in fact be ordered

100
00:09:43.279 --> 00:10:11.639
online from our office. Of course, A man and I would be happy

101
00:10:11.840 --> 00:10:18.720
to talk to you about how you
can have the power's appropriate healthcare power and

102
00:10:18.799 --> 00:10:24.519
durable power attorney prepared for your college
student, or if you need to have

103
00:10:24.960 --> 00:10:30.240
an estate plan put together, we'd
be honored to have the opportunity to help

104
00:10:30.279 --> 00:10:33.879
you protect your loved ones by putting
your plan together, perhaps amending a current

105
00:10:33.919 --> 00:10:37.480
plan that you already have, or
assisting you in settling in a state.

106
00:10:39.639 --> 00:10:43.919
We currently have both in person consultations
at our new East Lansing office as well

107
00:10:43.960 --> 00:10:50.679
as virtual consultation via zoom or telephone. Simply head on over to Doyle LAWPC

108
00:10:50.919 --> 00:10:56.039
dot com where you will find more
information about how to schedule your consultation today.

109
00:10:56.480 --> 00:11:03.759
A reminder too, that we have
of our Legal Store, and that's

110
00:11:03.840 --> 00:11:07.440
the again Doyle aw PC. You're
going to find a link to the Legal

111
00:11:07.519 --> 00:11:13.799
Store at our website and in that
legal store you can order individual documents.

112
00:11:15.799 --> 00:11:20.039
Maybe all you're looking for is how
do I get this Power of Attorney for

113
00:11:20.120 --> 00:11:26.799
healthcare prepared for my college student?
Head on over to the Legal Store and

114
00:11:26.879 --> 00:11:31.519
you will find information there on how
you can order that document online, as

115
00:11:31.519 --> 00:11:48.519
well as several other documents that are
also available. And that is going to

116
00:11:48.600 --> 00:11:52.200
be it for today's show. As
always, though, if you have a

117
00:11:52.240 --> 00:11:56.879
comment about the program, a topic
that you'd like to have me discuss,

118
00:11:56.960 --> 00:12:01.000
or questions that you would like to
have answered, please send me an email

119
00:12:01.120 --> 00:12:05.879
Tom at Tuesday with Tom dot com. Also follow us on Facebook, invite

120
00:12:05.879 --> 00:12:09.200
your friends and family to follow us
on Facebook as well. That would be

121
00:12:09.279 --> 00:12:13.279
Tuesday with Com and of course the
office would be Doyle law PC. Remember

122
00:12:13.320 --> 00:12:20.080
too, Tuesday with Tom is available
on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google podcast,

123
00:12:20.200 --> 00:12:26.879
iHeartRadio, Spreaker everywhere that you likely
listen to your podcasts regularly, you

124
00:12:26.919 --> 00:12:33.759
will find Tuesday with Tom and you
can always again ask your smart speaker to

125
00:12:33.960 --> 00:12:39.960
play Tuesday with Tom. Thanks again
for spending some of your time with us

126
00:12:39.000 --> 00:12:45.000
today, and as always, I
hope that you have an awesome day and

127
00:12:45.159 --> 00:12:56.240
an awesome week in Michigan. Stay
safe. Tuesday with Tom has been brought

128
00:12:56.279 --> 00:13:01.200
to you by the estate planning attorneys
at Doyle Law. To learn how we

129
00:13:01.240 --> 00:13:05.000
can help you with your estate plan
or with settling a loved one's estate,

130
00:13:05.600 --> 00:13:11.039
please call us today at five one
seven three two three seven three six six.

131
00:13:11.480 --> 00:13:13.919
That's five one seven, three two
three seven three six six