Navigating the First Year of College (for Parents)
How to legally assist your adult student
College is expensive. It’s a right of passage for some. It is not right for others. You may be paying for your child’s college tuition, completing and submitting financial aid applications, speaking with the bursar’s office or helping your high school graduate land their first job or open their own business.
None of this means you are entitled to any information relating to your child’s school finances, grades, medical records, bills, general debt or asset information. Sometimes you need it.
What’s a parent to do?
Milford Law has developed an information package of documents that will give you all the necessary legal authority to assist your child in whatever manner necessary despite being over 18 years of age. Whether you are trying to find out the balance owed on your child’s tuition, deadlines for financial aid applications for the following year or whether the proper credits were applied to your child’s account, these documents will afford you that legal authority. We also provide documents that will allow you to be involved in any medical decisions and allow you to obtain medical records if necessary. Finally, this package of documents will allow you to obtain asset, credit and debt information of your child should you need to do so.
As parents who have been involved in financial, medical and overall care of our children since birth, many believe this automatically continues when they reach the age of 18 and go off to college or get their first job. That is not the case. Fortunately, or unfortunately, when an individual reaches 18 years of age, they are considered an adult and as such are afforded all the legal protections to their privacy. Whether practical or not that includes all information at college or other aspect of their life.
If you have encountered barriers when trying to help your adult child, please give us a call. The documents we provide are practical, necessary and will not break the bank…..because let’s face it – you have enough to pay for.
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