In Case of Death Binder: Where to Find Your Documents

Start with the records you already have

Begin with a few rows. If you cannot find a record or confirm its current location, write “needs checking” and leave a question for later.

The NIA checklist includes personal, financial and health records, including the location of the most up-to-date will with an original signature. Our estate planning document guide explains the roles of the documents themselves.

Use a short label that another person can understand, such as “recent tax records with accountant.” Keep passwords, recovery codes, Social Security numbers and full account numbers off this sheet. Keep those private details in separate protected storage.

Make the current originals findable

For each legal document, record whether the location holds the current signed original or a copy. A note such as “signed original at lawyer’s office; copy in household folder” tells someone where to start asking.

Consider access when choosing secure storage. The FDIC’s guidance on safe-deposit boxes and home safes points out that a bank box may be unavailable when the bank is closed. It directs readers to state-specific legal guidance when choosing where to keep an original will. Access to a box after its owner dies depends on state law.

If someone has already died, our guide to finding a will covers the separate task of locating their records.

List the right contacts

A contact list can include a lawyer’s office, accountant, bank, insurer or doctor’s office. Add a contact route from a current statement, existing paperwork or the provider’s official website.

Give each contact a clear purpose: “knows where the folder is,” “holds the signed original,” or “office to ask about records.” The worksheet has no appointment, beneficiary-choice or signature section.

The CFPB explains that a power of attorney allows another person to act on someone’s behalf. Our power of attorney guide explains that role. Writing a person’s name in this location sheet does not appoint them as an agent or executor.

A bank may ask for proof of the right to obtain someone else’s account information, as the FDIC’s account-discovery guidance describes. Record whom to ask and what proof is needed. A family relationship or knowledge of a folder’s location does not settle access.

Share where the sheet is kept

Tell a person you trust that the sheet exists and where to find it. They can know its location without holding every private record. The NIA checklist includes this handoff.

The worksheet has a space for “person told where to find it.” It records who knows the location. Questions about a healthcare agent belong with your advance directive and the provider’s current process.

Check the map when something changes

Add a “last checked” date. Revisit the sheet when documents move, a provider changes, a contact becomes unavailable, or you receive a new signed version.

A check date records when you reviewed the locations. It does not confirm a document’s legal validity. The estate planning checklist covers the wider review of your planning documents.