When Tricia Gustafson began the college search process with her daughter, Hanna, last year, she was inundated with information about applying to schools, selecting the best fits, and paying for college. What she hadn’t thought about was the need for a power of attorney for her young adult college student.
Then, Tricia found Mama Bear on Facebook.
“I was on a Facebook page and found my way to a group called ‘Paying for College 101.’ Once there, I found a post about a company called Mama Bear Legal Forms and learned of this need,” Tricia says. “People had been talking about it in the group, and I knew it was something I needed to follow up on as my daughter was turning 18 in a few weeks.”
While Tricia had just paid a lawyer to draft a will for her and her family, she realized that she didn’t want to pay a lawyer for a POA document for her daughter. And, she was busy. Really busy.
“My daughter was planning a gap year through The Leap, we were planning travel for family and there was just too much going on to try to get the forms done myself,” Tricia says. “I remembered Mama Bear, Googled their name, found their site and began the process.”
“It was so quick.”
Tricia says right away she felt comfortable trusting Mama Bear’s forms for her daughter’s POA need. After assessing the site, she settled in expecting a long, complicated process with many questions. Her actual experience was a pleasant departure from her expectations.
“The forms were super easy. It wasn’t hard. It didn’t take long. I believe it took only 15 minutes from start to finish,” Tricia says. “I printed the forms, took it to my local credit union, had it notarized, then scanned the forms into the Mama Bear app and I was done.”
With her daughter currently in Cambodia volunteering at the Red Road Foundation, Tricia’s thankful to have the forms accessible and in a format she can send anywhere in the world at a moment’s notice.
Added convenience through the Mama Bear app
The Mama Bear app is a free way to scan, store and share your young adult power of attorney forms. The most time-consuming aspect of using the app is taking photos of your POA or will documents so they can be stored in the app.
“I am grateful for it. I remember it taking some time to scan all the pages, but it was worth it because now I have them right here on my phone,” Tricia says. “I can give the printed copies to my daughter so she has them and can email them to a healthcare provider or college financial representative with the push of a button.”
Why Tricia recommends Mama Bear for your young adult POA
“I hope people will realize this is a real need and Mama Bear is a great way to meet it. The biggest benefit they provide is simplicity. You know it’s right. If you go to a lawyer, you know it’s right, but they will charge a lot more than Mama Bear,” Tricia says.
“With Mama Bear, it’s simple, it’s right and it’s all in one place. All you need is 30 minutes and a willingness to get it done.”
Why young adult Power of Attorney forms are so important
If Tricia’s story alone doesn’t seal the deal for you, consider the following reasons why you want to consider a POA for your young adult child.
Certain things happen when a young person becomes a legal adult:
- Caregivers are no longer authorized to make medical decisions for their child
- Parents can no longer talk with representatives and counselors about their child’s financial issues
- Banks and insurance companies won’t discuss a child’s account or health condition with legal guardians unless a properly executed power of attorney form is presented.
Every parent assumes that if their children ask for their assistance with medical or financial matters, they have the legal right to handle decisions for their adult children.
But once your college student is an adult in the eyes of the laws, you no longer have the right to be involved in their medical or financial matters. Without a financial POA and healthcare POA, parents are not authorized to help adult children manage their financial, legal or healthcare decisions.
Read more young adult POA stories.
Would you like to hear from more parents about their experience with Mama Bear? In addition to receiving answers to common questions, hear from these individuals about their POA stories:
- Debra Preis graduates her son to Furman
- Jennifer McBride sees her daughter become a Volunteer
- Sara Smith’s sends her daughter to school
- Jason learns why being a doctor isn’t enough to help his son
Putting a power of attorney form in place now removes the stress of worrying about whether or not you will be able to help your child when they need it and frees you to focus on other things.
Take the next step.
Ready to get your Young Adult POA Package? Mama Bear Legal Forms provides law firm quality, state-specific documents that are easy to create, simple to download and at $79, are incredibly affordable. Save 20% by entering promo code MAMABEARBLOG.
All three of the forms we offer in our Young Adult Package are legally valid in all states and include guidance on how to complete them.
It only takes 15 minutes to create the three documents your child needs to have everything secured before they head off to college. Get yours now.
