They’re 18 and off to college. You can still be there when it counts.
The day your child turns 18, Florida law locks you out of their medical, financial, school — and even mental-health — decisions, even though you’re still the one they’ll call. Seven Florida documents put you back in the loop — and if they’re heading out of state, the matching host-state pack is included free.
Law That You Can Afford™
Why almost every parent is surprised
Every August, thousands of Florida parents move their children into college dorms. Almost none realize that the moment their child turns eighteen:
- Hospitals can’t talk to them
- Colleges can’t discuss grades
- Banks won’t discuss accounts
- Doctors can’t accept their decisions
The good news: seven affordable legal documents restore those rights.
Overnight, you lose the legal right to help.
Your child is the same person on their 18th birthday as the day before — but in the eyes of the law, you’re now a bystander. Here’s what that quietly means.
Doctors can’t talk to you
Once your child is 18, federal privacy law (HIPAA) bars hospitals from sharing their medical information with you — even in an emergency, even while you’re paying for their insurance.
You can’t make medical decisions
If your child is knocked unconscious in an accident or falls seriously ill, you have no automatic authority to direct their care without a health care surrogate in place.
You can’t manage money or school matters
Banks, lenders, and colleges won’t deal with you on your adult child’s accounts, tuition, or records — even routine problems — without a power of attorney.
The alternative is a courtroom
Without these documents, stepping in for your own adult child can mean petitioning a court for guardianship: slow, public, and expensive — at the worst possible moment.
The College Send-Off Legal Checklist
Every legal task to handle before move-in day, on one printable page — organized into clear sections so nothing slips through the cracks. Free to download: no account, no email, no catch.
Download the free checklist →You’ve protected them for eighteen years. This is how you keep doing it — from a distance.
JusticeXpress was built by the founder of Peoples-Law.org, the public legal information site the Maryland court system now operates for its citizens — a national model for putting the law in plain language.
We’re not a form factory. We explain what each document does, prepare it correctly for the right state, and never charge you for something you can get free. The same trusted approach, now for your family.
- Plain-language documents, valid in the state you choose
- Every state covered — wherever your senior is headed
- One flat fee. No subscriptions, ever.
- Delivered to your secure JusticeXpress Vault
Seven documents. One conversation with your kid.
Together they let you step in on medical, mental-health, financial, and school matters — and let your child spell out their own wishes. Each is a routine Florida instrument, drafted from a plain-English questionnaire.
HIPAA Authorization
Federal privacy law blocks providers from sharing your adult child’s medical information. This names you as someone who may receive it.
45 C.F.R. §164.508Medical Authorization
A provider-facing release for routine campus health-center and primary-care visits that require their own form.
FERPA Educational Records Authorization
Lets the college share grades, financial-aid, and disciplinary records with you — otherwise sealed the day they turn 18.
20 U.S.C. §1232gFlorida Health Care Power of Attorney
Names you to make medical decisions if your child is incapacitated. Florida lets you act before incapacity is formally declared.
Fla. Stat. §765.202Florida Living Will
Your child’s own end-of-life wishes — life-prolonging care, nutrition and hydration, organ donation — in their words.
Fla. Stat. §765.302Florida Mental Health Advance Directive
A standard surrogate can’t consent to ECT, psychiatric admission, or other mental-health treatment — this document can. The piece MamaBear, LegalZoom, and Trust & Will don’t offer.
Fla. Stat. §§765.202(5) & 765.113Florida Durable Power of Attorney
Authorizes you to handle tuition, a lease, a bank account, student loans, tax documents, or insurance on your child’s behalf.
Fla. Stat. Ch. 709, Pt. IIWhy the Mental Health Advance Directive matters
Mental-health emergencies are now the largest category of campus medical incidents, and Florida’s Baker Act allows a 72-hour involuntary psychiatric hold on a single professional’s determination. Once your child is admitted, HIPAA’s psychotherapy-notes rule can lock family out — even family named on a standard release. This directive is the separate instrument that keeps you able to help. If your child has an existing mental-health diagnosis, consult a Florida attorney and their treating provider before executing it.
Three steps, before move-in day.
Answer plain questions
A short online interview in plain English. Tell us your child’s college and the state they’ll be living in.
We prepare the right documents
State-correct documents, assembled automatically and delivered to your secure Vault — usually in minutes.
Your child signs
With witnesses or a notary as each document requires. We show you exactly what’s needed. Keep copies; share with doctors and the school.
One pack. Any state. One flat fee.
Seven Florida documents, drafted from your answers. Attending out of state? The matching host-state pack is included free with the Florida pack — our automated inventory covers all fifty.
- Durable power of attorney $200–$350
- Health care directive $150–$250
- Full document package $1,500–$2,000
All seven documents, prepared for your student’s state — about $9.86 each. One flat fee — no hourly billing, no subscriptions.
The Florida Turning-18 Pack
Seven Florida documents — and if your student is going out of state, the matching host-state pack is included free.
- All seven Florida documents (including the Mental Health Advance Directive)
- Host-State Companion Pack — free if attending out of state
- Florida-statute-compliant, drafted from your answers
The Host-State Pack
Just the host-state documents, for families who don’t need the Florida set. If you buy the Florida pack, you get this free.
- Seven documents drafted under your student’s school-state law
- Healthcare, mental-health, financial & school authorizations
- Recognized by out-of-state hospitals and universities
Add a Simple Will
Most college students don’t need one yet. But if your student has significant assets — an inheritance, a trust distribution, a brokerage account, or a business — a simple will lets them decide where things go. It pairs naturally with the durable power of attorney, and it’s prepared for your student’s state.
Florida pack + going out of state? The host-state pack is included free — add Legal Document Review on it for $50 if you’d like.
Legal Document Review is a trained Legal Document Preparer checking every document for completeness and Florida-statute compliance before you sign. A clerical check — not legal advice.
Planning your own estate too? See The Four Documents Every Floridian Needs.
You may have heard of Mama Bear.
See an honest, feature-by-feature comparison. In short: more documents, drafted specifically to Florida statutes, at a lower cost per document — including the Mental Health Advance Directive Mama Bear doesn’t offer at any price. We even show you where Mama Bear is genuinely stronger.
See the full comparison →Drop them off knowing you’re one call away from helping.
You’ve done the hard part for eighteen years. This is the small, affordable step that keeps you in your child’s corner — even from three hundred miles away.
You’ll hug them goodbye at the dorm, drive home to a quieter house — and if the phone ever rings at 2 a.m., you won’t be a stranger to the hospital or the bank. You’ll be exactly who your child needs: someone who can actually act.
See the College-Bound Package →Help the families you serve get this handled before move-in.
Every year, the same families discover this gap the hard way — often in a hospital hallway. It doesn’t have to be that way.
If you work with graduating seniors and their parents, we’ll give you clear, plain-language materials to share — and a simple, affordable way for your families to get these documents in place. It’s the same public-service spirit that has guided Peoples-Law.org for Maryland families for 25 years, now for Florida’s college-bound.
What a partnership means: no referral fees, and nothing changes hands. We give you materials to share and a 15% community discount code your families can use at checkout — the benefit goes to them, not to you. You simply help the families you already serve.
- High school counselors
- College parent & orientation offices
- PTAs & PTOs
- Student health centers
- Financial advisors
- Community & faith organizations