Washington: your 18-year-old’s paperwork

1. What you’ll sign

• Health care form (Washington durable power of attorney for health care): names who can make medical choices if your child can’t.
• Financial form (Washington durable power of attorney (fill-in guide)): names who can handle money, bills and accounts.
• HIPAA release: lets doctors talk to the people your child names. It shares information. It doesn’t give anyone decisions.
• FERPA consent: lets the college share records, like grades or bills, with the people your child names.

2. Step-by-step checklist

Health care form

• Choose one: a notary OR two witnesses. The notary is usually easier.
• Witnesses can't be related to your child or the agent (so parents can't witness), or be your child's home-care or facility caregivers.

Financial form

• Same as health care: a notary OR two witnesses, with the same witness limits.

HIPAA and FERPA forms

• Your child signs and dates each one.
• No witnesses or notary needed.
• Many colleges and doctors want their own form. Ask first.

Signing online

• Plan on signing in person. We're confirming whether online options work for these forms.

What to bring

• ☐ Your child's current photo ID.
• ☐ The forms, printed and not signed yet.
• ☐ Everyone who needs to be there: your child, the witnesses, and the notary if needed.
• ☐ Names, addresses and phone numbers for the people being named and their backups.
• ☐ A black pen. Ask the notary about the fee before you go.

3. Watch out

Watch out: Washington has no state financial form.

Watch out: Keep the words that say the financial form keeps working if your child gets too sick to act. Without them, it stops working.

4. After you sign

Make copies

• ☐ Make paper copies of every signed form.
• ☐ Scan each form to a PDF, or take clear phone photos of every page.
• ☐ Keep the originals together in a safe, easy-to-find place, like a folder at home. Don't lock them where no one can reach them in an emergency.

Who gets a copy

• ☐ Your child.
• ☐ Each parent or person named as an agent, plus any backups.
• ☐ Your child's main doctor.
• ☐ The campus health center.
• ☐ Your child's bank, for the financial form.

Turn in the school and doctor forms

• ☐ FERPA: give it to the college registrar's office. Ask if they want their own form or a setting in the student portal instead.
• ☐ HIPAA: give it to your child's doctors and the campus health center. Ask them to put it in your child's file.
• ☐ Ask each office to confirm they got it.

Keep them handy

• ☐ Save the PDFs to your phone and a cloud folder the named people can open.
• ☐ Put a wallet card in your child's wallet. List who to call and where the papers are.
• ☐ Add the named people as emergency contacts in your child's phone.

When to review or redo

• ☐ Your child moves to a new state or starts a new school.
• ☐ Your child wants to change who is named.
• ☐ The HIPAA release hits its end date. Set a reminder.
• ☐ Every few years, even if nothing changes. A once-a-year look is a good habit.

How to cancel or replace them

• ☐ Your child can cancel a form at any time while they can still decide for themselves.
• ☐ Tell everyone who has a copy, in writing, that the old form is canceled.
• ☐ Get the old copies back or destroy them.
• ☐ Sign a new form the same way as the first one, with the same witnesses or notary rules.

Some Washington details are still being checked. Where you see “we’re confirming this,” ask the notary, the state, or a lawyer before you rely on it.

Sources

• RCW 11.125.050 (execution) — https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=11.125.050
• RCW 11.125.400 (agent authority — health care) — https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=11.125.400
• Washington State Medical Association advance directives (not a government form; currency we're confirming this) — https://wsma.org/advance-directives
• RCW 11.125.050 (execution) — https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=11.125.050
• RCW 11.125.430 (agent certification) — https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=11.125.430
• Federal: 45 CFR 164.508 (https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-45/section-164.508); 34 CFR 99.30 (https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-34/section-99.30).

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