Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Zero. Massive marketing scam.

These firms are available online - free.

Virginia is a state that does not even require a notary. Parents can be witnesses—even those signing.

But my work has a notary- so just had them notarized as a pre action

Agree. It’s an unnecessary money-grab. Many states have statutory forms that are available for free online. A friend was recently looking to have a Mama Bear form notarized and I pointed out that only witnesses were needed in our state, not a notary.

The mama bear forms we printed out say "Notarization recommended but not required," but we need two witnesses. For the FERPA, the kid just needs to sign.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Zero. Massive marketing scam.

These firms are available online - free.

Virginia is a state that does not even require a notary. Parents can be witnesses—even those signing.

But my work has a notary- so just had them notarized as a pre action

Agree. It’s an unnecessary money-grab. Many states have statutory forms that are available for free online. A friend was recently looking to have a Mama Bear form notarized and I pointed out that only witnesses were needed in our state, not a notary.

I feel like this is something that gets misunderstood. A POA is simply a form that designates you as their proxy should they need someone to act in their favor. It isn't a blanket "I now have access to all your info". The POA gets activated if your kid is unable to consent themselves. If your kid goes to the hospital with a broken leg, you don't get to call the hospital and say "I'm their POA, tell me what's going on". Your kid still has to give permission to the facility to give out their info to you.

If the college has an online health portal your kid still needs to give their permission for you to access it, even if you have the POA paperwork filled out.

An important thing is to make sure that your child has the emergency contacts in their phone filled out. And that in their dorm at school there is a paper taped up with your names and numbers.

Anonymous wrote:Zero. Massive marketing scam.

These firms are available online - free.

Virginia is a state that does not even require a notary. Parents can be witnesses—even those signing.

But my work has a notary- so just had them notarized as a pre action

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Zero. Massive marketing scam.

Yes. I printed free copies online of all the forms.

Oh and my nephew had a first onset mental episode first year of college and was admitted and my sister did not have POA. I remember it being awful and a huge hassle.

Anonymous wrote:Zero. Massive marketing scam.

Yes. I printed free copies online of all the forms.

Mama Bear is a brand.
Started by a mom (attorney I think?) who saw a void in the market to fill…and that is: providing and compiling legal for families to fill out with their adult college students as a “just in case” measure so that if your 18-22 year old kid (who is legally an adult but emotionally not all that adult-ish) gets into a medical emergency situation, you (as parent) can step in to handle and/or support. As prior posters explained, they are basically POA forms and such—but it allows you to speak to their doctors and/or get information as needed if they are medically incapacitated.

You may never need this at all.
But many people falsely assume that if their kid gets into some situation where they need medical attention, they will easily be able ti get i formation and step in to help. But without POA, that info is protected and HIPAA will prevent medical professionals from sharing that information about your adult child.

I do not understand people willing to spend six figures on education who insist on cheating out on power of attorney and similar documents instead of consulting an attorney. These things can’t be fixed if a mistake is discovered after they’re needed.

Can someone explain what mama bear forms are?

Why don't you have them for yourself? Do you have wills and guardians named for your kids? Why not?

Absolutely worth doing the forms. Mama Bear bundles all the forms together and you can fill out for multiple states (home, college locations) at the same time. Once you complete the forms, MB sends it to you in one beat pdf that you then print out and get notarized. For that convenience/bundling, you pay a fee. I think it was $70. For us that fee was worth it—we didn’t have to search and navigate various sites and worry if we got all of the right/important forms. We had a ton of stuff going on at the time with elderly parents so the path of least resistance was worth the price. You can find the forms online if you are so inclined. Either way they need to be notarized.

In our experience it was worth having the POA for medical assistance. Kid got very sick at school two states away.We were able to help bc of the POA. I’m not sure what we would have done without it. Back when we were in college we didn’t have medical portals to navigate and I don’t recall there being the same sort of legal hoops to jump through that their are now re parents intervening on behalf of kids. Also having been going through A LOT of elder care and being in constant need of these documents, it made sense we’d do the same for our 18yr old before college.

You can find the forms on

You and your husband probably should have medical directives, authorizing each other to make decisions on the event you aren't able to. That's all you need for your adult child.

Wut

Zero. Massive marketing scam.

Do anyone actually get these forms?

My husband and I didn't have anything like that for ourselves, what's the benefit if any at all?