Where Should Your Family Find Your Estate-Planning Documents?

A signed plan is more useful when the person named to act can find it. A document-location list does not replace a will, trust or power of attorney. It gives your family a practical way to locate the records needed when they contact an attorney or institution.

Start with the documents, then record where they are

List your will, trust and amendments, financial power of attorney and advance health care directive. Note where the signed originals are stored and who has a current copy. Record the date on each document so an older copy is less likely to be mistaken for the latest one. If you have several amendments or multiple sets of papers, ask your attorney how they should be organized.

Create an institution list without exposing sensitive numbers

Identify the banks, investment firms, insurers and other institutions involved. Include an ordinary contact number or the location of a recent statement. Do not place passwords, full account numbers or identity documents in a broadly shared checklist. Discuss a secure method for preserving those details separately.

Tell the nominated people how to obtain the information

A successor who lives elsewhere may need to know whom to call before they can locate a binder or original document. Consider a brief conversation with the people named in your plan about where the records are kept. Confirm that they are still willing and practically able to serve. Naming someone does not automatically give that person authority to act immediately; the document and circumstances matter.

Review the list when something changes

Use a move, new account, property purchase, marriage, death or change in a nominated decision maker as a prompt to check the list. Update the location information when you replace documents. Keep old papers identified as superseded rather than leaving several apparently current sets without explanation.

A short preparation checklist

• Identify the signed documents and their dates.
• Record the location of originals and current copies.
• List institutions and a safe way to find their records.
• Confirm the first-choice and alternate decision makers.
• Ask your attorney about missing or conflicting documents.

The California Courts’ estate-planning document resource explains the different roles of wills, trusts and advance-care documents. Your own record list should reflect the plan you actually have.