Illinois: your 18-year-old’s paperwork

What this covers: how a Illinois student signs the four Covered18 documents (health care directive, financial power of attorney, HIPAA release, FERPA consent) and what to do afterward. It does not say which choices are right for your family.

0. Before you start

• Age: Illinois: a person 18 or older is of legal age (755 ILCS 5/11-1). Witnesses and agents must be 18 or older. Sign on or after the 18th birthday.
• Talk with the person you plan to name (and a backup) before anything is printed. They need to agree and know where the papers will be.
• Schools, hospitals and banks sometimes ask for their own forms. Ask the school's registrar and student health center what they accept.
• If any item below says UNVERIFIED, confirm it with the notary, the state source, or a lawyer before relying on it.

1. Health care directive

Illinois Statutory Short Form Power of Attorney for Health Care
Statutory form text reproduced verbatim from the official source (see Sources). Optional statutory short form, 755 ILCS 45/4-10(b).

• Principal signs and dates; ONE witness (18 or older) signs (755 ILCS 45/4-5.1).
• Witnesses cannot be the attending physician or other treating professionals listed in §4-5.1, the agent, or the principal's parents, siblings or descendants and their spouses. Ask a friend or other adult who is not in those groups.
• No notary is required.

Watch for: - One witness is required. The witness cannot be the agent, a treating provider, or the principal's own parent, sibling or descendant (or their spouses) (755 ILCS 45/4-5.1). - No notary is needed for this form. - By default the agent decides only when a physician finds the principal cannot decide; the form has a box for earlier access to records.

2. Financial power of attorney

Illinois Statutory Short Form Power of Attorney for Property
Statutory form text reproduced verbatim from the official source (see Sources). Optional statutory short form, 755 ILCS 45/3-3(c)-(e): notice to the signer, the form, and the notice to agent.

• Principal signs and dates; one witness signs; the principal acknowledges before a notary (755 ILCS 45/3-3). The notary cannot be the witness.
• Optional: a second witness.
• The agent should receive the Notice to Agent.

Watch for: - The form must be signed by the principal, one witness, and acknowledged before a notary. The notary cannot also be the witness. - The statutory form allows no co-agents; successor agents are allowed.

3. HIPAA authorization and FERPA consent

• The HIPAA release and FERPA consent are separate papers built from the federal required elements (45 CFR 164.508; 34 CFR 99.30). The student signs and dates each. Neither gives anyone the power to make decisions; they only allow information to be shared.
• Notarization is not required by the federal rules. Some schools and providers want their own form; ask first.
• Illinois mental-health confidentiality rules (740 ILCS 110) and others were not researched. UNVERIFIED.
• Ask the registrar and student health service which forms they accept.

4. Remote (online) options

Question	What we found
Remote notarization	Illinois has electronic and remote notarization (5 ILCS 312/3-105, art. 6A). Whether it works for this POA, and whether witnesses may be remote: UNVERIFIED. Treat as in-person only.

If the table says UNVERIFIED, plan on signing in person. See the notary options page for online notary services and their public prices.

5. If the student is signing from another state

• I found no express Illinois reciprocity clause for out-of-state directives or POAs; §2-4(b) says the Act governs every agency "whenever or wherever executed" in some cases. UNVERIFIED for documents signed elsewhere.

Banks and hospitals decide for themselves what they accept. Whether yours accepts an out-of-state document is UNVERIFIED.

6. Stop and ask a lawyer if

• Family members of the student are the only available adults for witnessing (see the list of barred relatives).
• Anything in your situation does not match this guide (for example guardianship, a disability, or a business interest).

7. Checklist to bring to the notary

• ☐ Government photo ID that is current (the notary will check it against the name on the papers).
• ☐ The documents, printed, unsigned. Do not sign ahead of time.
• ☐ Every person who must be present: the student, any witnesses (see Section 1 and 2), and the notary.
• ☐ Names, addresses and phone numbers for the agent(s) and backups.
• ☐ A black-ink pen. Print the HIPAA release and FERPA consent on their own pages.
• ☐ Ask the notary what the fee is before the appointment. Notary fees are not included in Covered18's price.
• ☐ Do not bring the agent as a witness unless the state section above says it is allowed.

8. After signing

• Make copies. Give a copy to the agent, the backup agent, the student's doctor or campus health center, and the bank if the financial document is meant to be used there. Keep the original somewhere safe and tell people where.
• Keep a scan in a place the agent can reach.
• Review once a year and after any big change (new school, move, relationship change). The HIPAA release has its own expiry date; set a reminder.
• If the student wants to change or cancel a document, ask the notary or a lawyer how to do that in your state.

9. UNVERIFIED items

• Remote witnessing/notarization.
• P.A. 104-609 amendment to 755 ILCS 45/2-8, listed effective 2027-01-01 (secondary).
• Illinois living will (755 ILCS 35) not researched.
• The statutory form witness wording differs slightly from the section text; follow the section text.
• Statute copies were retrieved with certificate checks disabled for the public ILGA site; re-fetch before use.