Families avoid money conversations more than almost any other subject. A Merrill Private Wealth Management study of 650 families, reported by The New York Times in 2019, found that two-thirds of households with at least $3 million in investable assets had never discussed their finances with their children and did not plan to. That reluctance is not limited to large estates.
The version of the conversation that gets skipped most often, though, is not about your money at all. It is about whether your adult child has anything in place of their own. Once a child turns 18, they are the only person who can sign their own documents. Your plan does not reach them, no matter how carefully it was drafted.
Summer is a practical window for this, with everyone in one place. Two things help it land: give notice before you raise the subject, and cover one or two topics rather than all five. If your children have been wondering about your plan as well, our post on how to start that conversation from the other direction is worth sending along.
1. Whether They Have the Basic Documents Yet
Three documents matter before a young adult owns much of anything:
- A HIPAA authorization, which lets health care providers share medical information with the people your child names.
- A Georgia Advance Directive for Health Care, which names a health care agent and records treatment wishes. Georgia law requires two witnesses.
- A financial power of attorney. Under Georgia law it stays in effect if your child later becomes incapacitated, unless the document says otherwise. To be valid it must be signed, witnessed, and notarized.
Signing requirements are where do-it-yourself versions fail. A form witnessed or notarized incorrectly may not be honored when it is needed. We covered the legal step most Georgia parents miss in a separate post, and it is short enough to send before you talk.
2. Who They Would Name, and Whether It Is You
Parents tend to assume they will be the agent. Your adult child may have someone else in mind: a spouse, a partner, a sibling, a friend. That choice belongs to them, and treating it as a question rather than an assumption is what gets documents signed.
It also surfaces something worth catching early. If your child would want a partner to speak for them in a medical setting, the advance directive is what makes that possible. Without a document naming that person, Georgia law looks to family members instead.
3. The Beneficiary Forms Nobody Revisits
A first job usually brings a 401(k), sometimes an employer life insurance policy, sometimes a health savings account. Each one has a beneficiary form, often filled out during onboarding and never opened again.
Those forms control. A retirement account or life insurance policy pays whoever is named on the designation, and a will does not override it. A form naming a parent at 22 still names that parent after a marriage, a divorce, or a new baby, unless someone changes it.
Ask whether your child knows what they named. Many people do not. Our post on beneficiary designation mistakes after a major life change covers what tends to go wrong.
4. What Georgia Decides If They Have No Will
Most young adults do not have a will. It still helps to know what the default looks like.
Under O.C.G.A. § 53-2-1, Georgia distributes a probate estate in a fixed order when there is no will:
- Married with no children: the spouse inherits everything.
- Married with children: the spouse and children share equally, and the spouse receives no less than one-third.
- Unmarried with no children: the parents inherit.
Two points tend to land. A partner your child is not married to is not an heir under this statute, regardless of how long the relationship has lasted. And with no will, the probate court appoints an administrator rather than someone your child chose. Our post on probating an estate without a will in Georgia explains how that process runs.
5. If They Have Children, Who Would Raise Them
For adult children in their late twenties and thirties, this is the item that carries the most weight.
Georgia allows a parent to nominate a guardian for a minor child by will under O.C.G.A. § 29-2-4. One limit is worth understanding: the nomination takes effect when the child has no other living parent, so it does not displace a surviving parent’s rights. Even with that limit, a will is the only place the nomination exists. Without one, there is nothing on record, and the question falls to a probate judge and whichever relatives come forward.
Key Takeaways
- At 18, only your child can sign their own documents. A parent’s plan does not extend to them.
- A Georgia financial power of attorney must be signed, witnessed, and notarized, and it stays effective after incapacity unless the document says otherwise.
- The person your child would name may not be you, so ask rather than assume.
- Beneficiary designations on retirement accounts and life insurance control those assets, and a will does not override them.
- Without a will, Georgia’s intestacy statute decides who inherits, and an unmarried partner is not an heir.
Talking This Summer Is Easier Than Sorting It Out Later
Steele Law Firm works with families in Marietta, Canton, Roswell, and the surrounding communities on both sides of this picture: the planning that prevents problems, and the probate and guardianship matters that follow when planning never happened. Seeing both is why we encourage families to start these conversations earlier than it feels necessary.
When your adult child is ready to put documents in place, an estate planning attorney in Canton, GA can review their situation and help them decide what fits. Request a consultation to learn more.
References: The New York Times (August 2, 2019) “4 Reasons Parents Don’t Discuss Money (and Why They Should)“