The birthday cake is still on the counter. Your child is 18 — legally an adult in Florida — and next month they're packing for dorm life, a job, or a gap year.

Most families assume that if something goes wrong — a car accident on I-95, a concussion at practice, an emergency room visit three states away — Mom or Dad can still walk in, talk to the doctors, and handle the bank or the insurance claim.

That assumption is wrong.

Under Fla. Stat. § 743.07, the disability of nonage is removed at 18. Your child enjoys the rights and obligations of an adult. Hospitals and banks generally treat you as a stranger unless your adult child has signed paperwork naming you. Love doesn't create legal authority. Documents do.

Parents can (and should) encourage the conversation and help arrange the appointment. The documents belong to the student — they sign, typically naming a parent (or another trusted adult) as agent and health care surrogate.

The kitchen-table problem

Picture this: your daughter is unconscious after an accident near campus. You're on the phone with the hospital. HIPAA privacy rules and Florida's advance-directive framework mean staff may not share details or take treatment direction from you unless she designated you — or unless a physician has found her incapacitated and the facility is working down a statutory “proxy” list under Fla. Stat. § 765.401.

That proxy list puts a spouse and adult children ahead of parents in the priority order. For an unmarried 18-year-old with no kids, a parent may eventually be reached as a proxy — but “eventually” and “may are not what you want when every minute counts. Naming a surrogate in advance puts your child's chosen person first.

Money is a parallel problem. Tuition refunds, checking accounts, rent, phone bills, insurance claims — without a durable power of attorney, you may hit a wall even if youd happily write the check.

What your young adult should sign (Florida toolkit)

These are adult documents. Your child is the principal. You are usually the agent or surrogate — if that's who they choose.

1. Durable power of attorney (Chapter 709)

A Florida durable power of attorney (DPOA) lets your child name an agent to handle property and financial matters — paying bills, dealing with banks and landlords, managing insurance paperwork — if they can't. Under Fla. Stat. § 709.2104, a power of attorney is “durable” when it says the authority continues despite later incapacity (or uses similar statutory language).

Execution matters. Fla. Stat. § 709.2105 requires the principal's signature, two subscribing witnesses, and acknowledgment before a notary (or as otherwise allowed by statute). Under Fla. Stat. § 709.2108, a modern Florida power of attorney is generally exercisable when executed — so the agents authority is ready when needed, not stuck waiting for a court finding.

This is about money and legal paperwork. It is not a custody order and it is not the health care document (though some families coordinate carefully with counsel on what powers belong where).

2. Designation of health care surrogate (Chapter 765, Part II)

Florida's health care advance-directive chapter is Chapter 765. Under Fla. Stat. § 765.202, your adult child can designate a competent adult as health care surrogate — the person hospitals look to for medical decisions when the principal can't make them. An alternate can be named. The designation must be in writing with the witness formalities the statute requires.

By default, the surrogate's authority to make decisions usually begins when a physician determines the principal lacks capacity (see Fla. Stat. 765.204). Florida also lets the principal stipulate that authority to receive health information, make health care decisions, or both, is exercisable immediately — without waiting for an incapacity finding. That option appears in Fla. Stat. § 765.101(21), 765.202(6), and the suggested form in 765.203.

Even with immediate authority, while your child still has capacity, their wishes control. Fla. Stat. § 765.204(3) is clear: the principal's decisions take precedence over a surrogate's when there's a material conflict.

For a college student, many families choose (with counsel) to make at least information access immediate so a named parent can get updates during a scary first call — while decision-making authority may spring later, or also be made immediate, depending on what the young adult wants.

3. Living will (Chapter 765, Part III)

A living will is where a competent adult can direct the providing, withholding, or withdrawal of life-prolonging procedures if they have a terminal condition, an end-stage condition, or are in a persistent vegetative state. Fla. Stat. § 765.302 sets the procedure; § 765.303 provides a suggested form. It must be signed before two witnesses (one neither a spouse nor a blood relative).

Eighteen-year-olds rarely want to dwell on this at the kitchen table. You don't have to make it morbid — frame it as: If you can't speak, here's what you would want doctors to know.” It guides the surrogate and the medical team. It is not a will that leaves property.

4. HIPAA authorization (pair it)

Even with a well-drafted surrogate designation that authorizes receipt of health information under Chapter 765, many providers still want a separate HIPAA authorization (see 45 C.F.R. § 164.508) naming the same person. Pair it. Hand copies to the primary doctor and keep one with the dorm / emergency kit before anyone needs them.

Who they name — including LGBTQ+ and chosen family

Florida lets the young adult choose. Often that's a parent. Sometimes its a stepparent, a sibling, a partner, or a close friend who actually knows their values.

If your child's life doesn't match the “default” family tree — same-sex partners, chosen family, a parent who's not the right medical decision-maker put the real choice on paper. Statutory proxy lists and “next of kin” assumptions can leave the wrong person in the waiting room and the right person locked out. The documents are how your child protects the relationships that matter.

Brief contrast: tools for kids still under 18

Do not mix these lanes.

While a child is still a minor, parents are generally the natural decision-makers, and Florida offers different paperwork: a designation of health care surrogate for a minor (Fla. Stat. § 765.2035) and, for longer-term planning if a parent dies or is adjudicated incapacitated, a preneed guardian for a minor (Fla. Stat. § 744.3046). Those are parent-signed tools about a minor child.

At 18, that chapter of the story ends. The adult toolkit above is signed by the young adult about themselves. A leftover babysitter letter or a minor-surrogate form does not substitute for an adult DPOA and adult health care directives.

A light note on college and FERPA

Health privacy (HIPAA) and education records (FERPA) are different systems. Even after you have medical directives in place, a college may still refuse to discuss grades, disciplinary matters, or certain student records without the student's FERPA release or the school's own form. If your child is heading to campus, ask the school what parental-access forms they use — and treat that as a separate checkbox from the Florida DPOA and Chapter 765 documents.

Practical checklist (before move-in day)

1. Have the kitchen-table talk: who do you trust with money, and who with medical decisions?
2. Young adult signs a Florida durable power of attorney (Ch. 709) naming a primary and preferably a successor agent.
3. Young adult signs a health care surrogate designation ( 765.202) — and decides whether information access and/or decision authority should be immediate (§§ 765.202(6), 765.101(21)).
4. Young adult considers a living will ( 765.302 / 765.303).
5. Pair a HIPAA authorization with the same names.
6. Ask the college about any FERPA / emergency-contact forms.
7. Give copies to the people named and to primary doctors; keep digital and paper backups.
8. Revisit after a breakup, a move out of state, a name change, or a change of heart — the principal can revoke or replace these while they have capacity (see, e.g., Fla. Stat. § 765.104 for advance directives).

None of this means you expect disaster. It means you refuse to leave your family guessing in a waiting room.

Give us a call. We can help.