<p>I apologize this is not directly related to college, but since this population has a lot who turned 18 not too long ago, or have kids who did so, perhaps you can help. My S turned 18 last month; what are all the things he needs to do - both those that are required, and those that should be done? Things like registering for service, voting, etc..</p>
<p>Are there any bank accounts where you or some other adult was the trustee for your son? He may want to close those accounts now (or when they come due, if they are CDs) and open new ones in his own name.</p>
<p>My daughter inherited some money when she was 15, which went into a CD with my name on it as trustee for her because she was a minor. Shortly after her 18th birthday, the CD matured. We withdrew the money, and she opened a new CD in her own name.</p>
<p>One thing we did: since our daughter is on my health insurance, we had her fill out a form allowing me to inquire about any claims/bills. Just before she turned 18, she had an emergency room visit. After I received the bill, I had a question and my insurance company wouldn’t discuss the claim with me since she had since turned 18. With her leaving for college, I had her sign a waiver allowing me to discuss any insurance claims with our carrier.</p>
<p>You may wish to have your son on his own health insurance plan coverage. It turns out it was cheaper* for us to have our DD have her own. *We pay for it.</p>
<p>Your son also needs to register for the Selective Service.</p>
<p>You’ll need some type of waiver if you want to access his college records (like grades). They will be happy for you to pay the bills, however, without a waiver. :)</p>
<p>I asked about such a waiver at my daughter’s school, and was informed that the school had a standard form but it needed to be signed by her in the presence of school officials when she goes down for the start of the semester. I believe it will give her options to check off to tell the school specifically what areas of her information she will permit me to have access to.</p>
<p>While we told her she wasn’t required to sign it, we did tell her if she expected us to contribute to the financing of her education she’d better sign it and give us access to her account at the bursar’s office and her grades.</p>
<p>Not to be a downer but I also had a talk with my son when he turned 18 about the legalities of being an adult. Stuff about what you should do if questioned by police, etc. If in a car accident, etc.
You never know when a situation will occur and once they are 18 you may not even know about it.<br>
Thankfully he has never had to use the advice I gave him but I’m glad he knows what to do.</p>
<p>Along the same lines as ebeee’s post…now that he is 18, his name can be published in the “police blotter” part of the newspaper. So now, besides the consequences of whatever act causes there to be a police report, the whole community will know. For example, the summer after D1 graduated from high school we saw a few classmates listed in the newspaper for underage drinking or marijuana possession. Some of the names disappointed me.</p>
<p>Thanks for the suggestions. The marginal cost of having S on my insurance is 0, so I’ll continue. Especially useful to me, the points made by ebee and college query.</p>
<p>If your child doesn’t already have a passport, now’s the time to get one. Travel opportunities arise during college (even if it’s just across the border to Canada) and it’s nice to have a passport available.</p>
<p>If you wait until your child has turned 17, they can get the longer (10 year) duration passport. Luckily for our, my DS’s birthday is in April and our overseas trip in August, so that gave us ample time to renew his passport with a 10 year one. Plus (found this out the last time), you won’t need to have the special form signed by the other (not present at the counter) parent, saying it’s okay for the child to have a passport (so you won’t spirit them across the border in some parental dispute.)</p>
<p>The California Bar Association publishes an informative pamphlet called “Turning 18”. I can’t make the link work, but you can google it. It looks like other state bar associations have something similiar. It’s a lengthy document with information about finances, personal safety, legal issues, etc. And it’s written in a user-friendly style. (not legalese)</p>
<p>IloveLA:</p>
<p>Thanks for the post! Luckily for me, I’m in CA, so it works for us.</p>
<p>My S has a little card in his wallet telling what you should do & your rights if you get stopped by police for any reason. Some org at his college gave it out. It never would have occurred to me to give him this info but I’m glad he has it.</p>
<p>It’s called Becoming 18: <a href=“http://www.calbar.ca.gov/calbar/pdfs/publications/Becoming-18.pdf[/url]”>http://www.calbar.ca.gov/calbar/pdfs/publications/Becoming-18.pdf</a></p>
<p>Thank you all for this timely post. My S turns 18 this month and then off he goes to college. We have been so busy getting him ready to leave we hadn’t given any of this a thought.</p>
<p>If your son hasn’t done so already, he needs to sign his Social Security card.</p>