A few weeks ago, I wrote about the importance of having your now adult child get his or her estate planning documents prepared. The idea may seem unnecessary at first blush — your now 18 year old (or twenty-something) “adult” child has just reached the legal age of adulthood and likely has yet to accumulate significant assets. He or she may in many ways seem still like a child to you, and not yet ready for important adult documents. However, under the law, they are adults, and you are no longer their default decisionmaker nor are you automatically granted access to your adult child’s medical records. This is an important time for your child to designate whom he or she wishes to make these types of decisions.
A celebrity death serves as reminder to us of all the necessity of getting these documents in place. Bobbi Kristina Brown, the twenty-two year old daughter of Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown, died recently after several months in a comatose state. You can read more about the tragic story here and here. Unfortunately, her lack of incapacity planning documentation and resulting legal protections (not unusual, given her age) resulted in a family legal fight during her incapacity. A reminder to talk with your young adult children about the necessity of getting, at a minimum, their incapacity documents in place under the counsel of an estate planning attorney.