Experts say young adults need estate planning documents

(InvestigateTV) — An 18-year-old may not think they need an estate plan because they probably don’t have a lot of assets, but experts say a few simple documents could protect them in an emergency.

Michael Joyce with CW Advisors said the easiest document to put in place is a health care directive. It’s also called a living will, a document that assigns a trusted person to make healthcare decisions on your behalf.

“If you’re an 18- or 19-year-old and you’re away for college and you go into the hospital, the hospital for an accident or whatever, the hospital does not technically need to speak to your parents,” Joyce said.

But if there’s a directive or health care power of attorney in place, they can speak to the doctors for you.

Joyce also recommended creating a will and updating it as your life changes.

He also suggested young adults create a durable power of attorney, which is a legal document that assigns another person the authority to make financial decisions regarding your estate on your behalf.

“There’s a lot of online documents where you can go through there’s check boxes on there. They’re state specific, they are HIPAA compliant; those are easy to get,” Joyce said.

If you own a home or have valuable bank accounts or investments, you could also create a trust, but if your assets are limited, a trust may not be worthwhile.

You can update these documents at any time.