Page 2 September 10, 2015 By R. Christine Brown, southbayelderlaw.com Unless you have the proper legal documents in place, once your child turns 18, you no longer have access to their health information or academic information and most importantly, you do not have the legal right to make medical decisions on their behalf. Preparing these documents before your child leaves for college is more important than furnishing a dorm room. Preparing to send a child away to college for the first time is exciting, but there are serious issues to consider. A recent article from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “How to prepare for kid going off to college” addresses issues concerning healthcare and credit card finances. Health care: When a child turns 18, you are able to continue to keep him/her on your insurance plan, but they’re considered a legal adult under HIPAA as far as disclosing health information. As a parent, you’re no longer legally permitted to access their health information when they go off to college and get sick or if they’re in a car accident and in the hospital. Because of the HIPAA restrictions, you should have an estateplanning attorney draw up a health-care power of attorney which names a parent or parents as their health-care agent. That way you can speak to healthcare professionals on their behalf if they are incapacitated, and you can obtain their medical information. Have a conversation with your child about the changes that happen when they become an adult and how a health-care power of attorney will protect them. Keep a copy of the document at home and have your son or daughter keep a copy at school. Scan it as Follow Us on Twitter @heraldpub The Second Mother is a Culturally Crowd-Pleasing Number About Family By Jared Anderson for CINEMACY The Second Mother is set in Sao Paulo, Brazil (a place where the Grammy-Award winning alt-rock band Arcade Fire is referred to as “The Arcade Fire”). The film (Que horas ela volta?) follows the eponymous character Val (Regina Casé), a housekeeper for a considerably wealthy family. It’s not an understatement to say her job has become her life, evidenced when her daughter Jéssica (Camila Márdila) flies into town, and end up only staying in the house. The main conflict here is in Val’s struggle to identify with a daughter she never quite got to raise. At one point she even relies upon the opinion of the family’s son to get a sense of what her own daughter is like. The Second Mother is a mostly quiet picture. Music is scarce, and camera angles, if not static, move slowly. Scenes within the house are almost claustrophobic due to how these angles repeat themselves throughout, very astutely mirroring the routine of Val’s life. Aside from one sequence, set in a high-rise, the surrounding city is never really explored (except for that it rains a lot). But these elements make the film contained, focused, and even intimate in its storytelling. It must be said, Regina Casé shines in the lead role as Val. She is a graceful presence as an immediately empathetic and cordial character. Val is visibly frustrated by her position – she overthinks how to organize a new coffee table set, is bothered by the family dog, and can’t seem to stop Jessica from eating the family’s chocolate ice cream. Everybody in The Second Mother seems perpetually frustrated and vicariously argumentative, which feeds what is most interesting and entertaining here: the dynamics and dialogues between characters. The Second Mother is a film primarily about thickness of bonds, how we concern ourselves with the opinions and approvals of those outside our family, and how they seem to mean more when they are earned. The family’s son reaches out to his “second mother” over his first for this reason. But the film is moreover a character study about Val’s shortcomings as a first mother herself. That said, while the movie is more dramatic than comedic, it has a natural levity that lends itself to a something deeply felt but also feel-good. The Second Mother is now playing in LA at the Laemmle Royal. • Film Review Regina Casé and Camila Márdila in The Second Mother, an Oscilloscope Pictures release. Legal Aid for Elders Preparing for College? Include Legal Documents and Important Discussions well so you have it in electronic format to email to a physician or to an ER if needed. Credit cards: Anyone under 21 applying for a credit card must have an independent source of funds to pay the bills, so that’s good news for parents. Many college freshmen use credit cards cosigned by parents. Parents should sign up for mobile alerts to monitor their student’s expenses, and talk to them about budgeting. If your child goes on a shopping spree and there are payment issues, your credit is going to take a hit. You can avoid this by paying the bills yourself and having your kid reimburse you for his or her expenses each month. You can also go with a debit card instead of a credit card. When the money is gone, it’s gone. Another option is to add your child as an authorized user on your account so that he will have his own card and start to build a credit history. However, you’re the one managing the account. While you’re thinking about all of these important issues, you also should take the time to review your estate planning now that your son or daughter is an adult and possibly is no longer living at home. Talk to your estate planning attorney about some of the common changes people consider at this point in the life of a family. Please visit our website for information on elder law, Medi-Cal Planning and estate planning issues, and sign up for our free monthly e-newsletter. The archive on our website contains numerous blog posts on these legal areas as well. You can also “friend” us on Facebook (R Christine Brown) to receive periodic posts on elder law issues. •
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