College students should give their parents health and financial powers of attorney.

Attorney Tom Olsen: Chrisy, we do estate planning, wills trust, avoiding probate for people throughout the state of Florida. We can help you wherever you live in Florida. Generally, we're always thinking in terms of preparing those documents for I don't want to say old, but elderly people, but more and more these days, we have people that are [unintelligible 00:00:16] and say, "We've got a child going off to college. We want to get a power of attorney for healthcare, a financial power of attorney. Get that child going off to college to sign these documents so that we could do these things for this young adult child as well."

Attorney Chris Merrill: Exactly. I tell clients if-- I've said this for years. I do power of attorneys in particular financial and healthcare power of attorney for individuals from 18 to 108. Oh, that's what I say all the time.

Tom Olsen: That's a good one.

Chris Merrill: People get it. Again, it is what you just mentioned which is it's not a particular age group.

Tom Olsen: It might be your son who's 18 years old, but guess what? Once he turns 18, you as the parent of that 18-year-old, you can't get access to their medical records. You cannot talk to their doctor and make healthcare decisions for them. That's a reason for your 18-year-old to give you a healthcare surrogate form.

Chris Merrill: Correct.

[00:01:18] [END OF AUDIO]