Posted 3 hours ago No, you can't get "a power of attorney over [your] mentally ill daughter." She may be able to execute a Power of Attorney if she has the capacity, but you don't have power over her.
Full Answer
The medical power of attorney grants you the legal authority to make those decisions. Ideally, you and your child would also have discussed preferences around end-of-life care, should that become relevant. (If it seems uncomfortable or ghoulish to bring this up with your young, vibrant child, make it a two-way conversation.
Your 18 year old daughter goes on a spring break trip to Florida with college friends. While there, she is involved in a car accident and is taken to the hospital unconscious. Your unmarried son, in his 20s, suffers a severe head injury at his construction job, rendered unconscious, and is rushed to the hospital.
Like a medical power of attorney, a financial power of attorney can be “springing,” meaning it doesn’t take effect unless and until it is needed. If you don’t have powers of attorney for an adult child, you may need to go to court and get a guardianship.
It doesn’t matter how much you love them or how obviously distraught you are; your child’s doctors cannot release that information to you without your child’s consent, and your child is now in a position where they cannot grant that consent.
For the first eighteen years of our children’s lives, you have the authority to make all major decisions for them, including financial and medical ones. So accustomed are you to this state of affairs, that it may not occur to you that when they wake up on their eighteenth birthday, the legal landscape has shifted. Only you may not realize it until the ground falls out from under your feet, and theirs. They may look the same and act the same, but they are now legal adults, and your power to make decisions for them is in the past. Do you need a power of attorney for an adult child?
A Durable Power of Attorney for Finances. Allows a designated agent such as a parent to manage financial transactions on behalf of the adult child. Transactions can range from a simple, one-time real estate purchase to more complex processes like handling investments. This is an essential document to have in place if a parent is still taking responsibility for their adult child’s college and living expenses or in the case of an adult child’s death or mental incapacity.
The right to bodily autonomy. After a child becomes an adult, they have the right to make decisions about their mental health and medical treatment without their parents’ consent.
A HIPAA Authorization Form. Lets doctors and healthcare providers know who they can speak with about an adult child’s medical condition.
Without documents in place , parents of adult children may not be able to speak to their incapacitated child’s doctor or make decisions on their behalf. Here are the legal documents that families can use to reflect the wishes of the adult children in case of mental or physical incapacitation:
When guardianship may be appropriate. Guardianships are typically applied for when a person is permanently disabled and incapable of managing their own affairs. Examples would be an older person with advanced dementia or suffering from a serious stroke, or a younger person with a severe developmental disability.
Your court papers should identify the treatment facility you have in mind that will agree to keep the person in the facility even if they wish to leave. Not all facilities will do this, but some might under certain circumstances.
Sunrise and start of a new day. The short answer is yes. You can acquire guardianship over a person who is addicted to drugs or alcohol. Under New Jersey guardianship law (found at N.J.S.A. 3B: 1-2) an “incapacitated person” is defined as:
So, again I ask, is it wise to seek guardianship for someone who is addicted? My honest answer is that in most cases, it probably is, even though guardianship may not be a long term solution. However, in the short term, guardianship may empower you (the guardian) to force the issue of treatment and apply some level of pressure on the person in need. Of course, the person with the addiction must ultimately want to get help, but guardianship may represent the necessary legal intervention that convinces someone to seek the help they need.
There should be a request for the appointment of a temporary guardian. New Jersey law now allows for a temporary guardian to be appointed in exigent cases. See N.J.S.A. 3B:12-24.1.
Addiction is a powerful enemy of a person's mind and their free will that essentially hijacks all rational thought and reasoning. The brain has actually changed, which makes it very difficult for a person to wake up one day and simply say: okay, I'm done, no more drugs. Recovery is not that easy. There is hope.
However, while someone with a severe and chronic drug or alcohol addiction may be technically incapacitated at the moment, their prognosis for improvement is usually very good, assuming they get the treatment they need to recover and remain sober.