Tips To Preserve Key Estate Documents

July 17, 2015

Estate planners are forced to cope with the fact many important documents must be held by various parties and that the safety of these key papers is not always a priority of the holder. Losing a document, such as a will, could throw even the best planned estate into turmoil that could lead to years of litigation. Here are some tips on how to make sure original documents are well protected:

Make sure original documents are easy to find. This is particularly important for wills since they are documents that often must have an original presented in order to gain a presumption of validity.
Make copies of an unaltered original to provide extra safety. However, this may be a risky tactic for wills since copies may complicate matters if the original was revoked or altered.
Use a safety deposit box that is set up for easy access after death. Placing documents in a safety deposit box offers unequaled protection from theft or casualty and easy access for the holder of the documents or estate representatives.
If a person is using a health care directive, make sure it indicates the location of the original will document and copies plus the name of the primate care physician. Those three pieces of data will help by making all final wishes know to the necessary parties.

See Tom Nawrocki, 5 tips for keeping original paperwork of key estate planning documents, Life Health Pro, July 14, 2015.

Posted in:

Death Event Planning, Estate Administration and Estate Planning - Generally