Where Should You Keep Your Important Documents?

If you are like many people, you have all kinds of important documents tucked away in a drawer, which leaves them exposed to theft, the potential of being destroyed by a fire, or simply forgetting where you put them. To help remedy this, we have put together a list of documents recommended for safekeeping in a safe deposit box and a list for a fireproof safe. Both secure locations have some stipulations that come with each one.

With a safe deposit box, the issue is accessibility should something happen to you. Generally, we suggest keeping your original estate documents in a fireproof safe, but these can also be stored in a safe deposit box. If you decide to store your original documents in a safe deposit box, we recommend adding another person, preferably your successor decision-makers (i.e., spouse, healthcare agent, trustee, etc.) as a co- lessee. This action helps eliminate delays that often arise when access is needed by someone other than you. Below are several other items suggested for storing in a safe deposit box and fireproof safe:

Store in a safe deposit box

• Birth certificates

• Social Security cards

• Legal contracts

• Collectibles

• Death certificates

• Family photos

• Jewelry (that you don’t wear)

• Marriage records

• Property records

• Vehicle titles

• An inventory of your household items (this can also be stored on the cloud)

Store in a fireproof safe

• Emergency cash

• Estate documents (Revocable Trust, Last Will & Testament, Financial and Healthcare Powers of Attorney, etc.)

• Letter of instruction (including funeral instructions and tangible personal property)

• Passport

• Uninsured valuables

• Jewelry (that you wear)

You may want to consider acquiring a Personal Articles Floater (PAF) for any valuable personal property (i.e. jewelry, art, collectibles, etc.) requiring more coverage than what’s provided by your homeowner’s insurance policy due to various exclusions and/or limitations. While homeowner’s insurance does cover personal property, any claim would be subject to the policy deductible. Not only that, it does NOT provide coverage if you lose an item. Using jewelry as an example, with a PAF, it would be covered if lost, stolen, or damaged without being subject to the deductible.

It's also good to perform an inventory by taking pictures or videoing the contents (i.e. personal property) in your home. Doing so proves what's in your home should a claim be made. The best way to do this is to start at one end of your home and work to the other end. If you choose to use video, make sure you speak to the camera to identify each item of importance, so the insurance company knows what you’re talking about. Consider keeping a copy in a safe deposit box or uploaded to an online file storage service like Google Drive or for OLIO clients, the copy can be saved on their dashboard.

Getting your documents up to date and stored in a safe location may appear to be a lot of work, but it's worth it in the end.