A Law Firm For Life
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College Planning

Your Child Turned 18, Graduating from High School, and Heading Off to College!
You No Longer Have Access to Their Educational and Medical Records.
The Pellegrino Law Firm Can Help You!
Before your child moves away to college, make an appointment with our attorneys to get more information about your options.
We can answer any questions and help you to execute the proper documents before your child’s school year starts.

Going to college is hard enough on parents sending a child away to school for the first time, don’t wait until it is too late to get access to the information you need to help your child.

At the Pellegrino Law Firm, we can help you and your child ensure that you have the access to their educational and medical information when it matters most.

The U.S. Department of Education is committed to protecting the privacy of student education records. Any school that receives U.S. Department of Education Funds is subject to these privacy rules under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, FERPA.

So, What Does This Mean To a Parent?

It means that once your child has reached the age of 18 years, the rights protected by the U.S.

Government are transferred from the parent to the child. The schools will gladly permit parents to access the bursar office to pay bills; however, they will not share:

report cards
schedules
disciplinary action and
other school records with parents.

Many schools have a waiver that students can sign that will give the parents access to grades. This can be avoided if before your student heads off to school, you have them execute a Power of Attorney, appointing you as their agent and authorizing you to obtain any information they are entitled to.

Medical Records

Similarly, the day your child turns 18, the rights of their medical records are transferred from parent to child. In the same way as education, where you pay tuition, paying the medical bills gives you no authority.

The Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act of 1996, or HIPAA, protects medical records and other health information. It prohibits the release of medical records to anyone other than the adult patient without written permission.

Problems arise when your child moves to college, there is a medical emergency, and you are not informed, nor can you get any medical information pertaining to the care and condition of your child. Having your child designate you as their Health Care Representative can give you the authority to obtain critical information on their health.

Power of Attorney

The Power of Attorney is a legal document that will allow you to act for your child. It creates a legal relationship that appoints you are your child’s agent. It can specify powers in which you can legally act on behalf of your child, or it can broadly give you the power to do almost anything as their agent.

By having your child execute a Power of Attorney, you will be authorized to obtain their report cards, student records, schedules and other documents you would not have otherwise been authorized to view.

The Power of Attorney is effective as soon as your child signs it before two witnesses and has it notarized.

Health Care Representative

Your child can appoint you as their Health Care Representative.

As their health care representative, you will be legally authorized to express the health care wishes of your child on their behalf in the unfortunate event, they are unable to do so themselves.

It will also authorize you obtain their medical records and get the critical health information you need when there is a medical emergency or accident while they are away at college.

Like the Power of Attorney, the Appointment of a Health Care Representative is effective as soon as your child signs the document before two witnesses and has it notarized.