How to Store Estate Planning Documents

Even after you finalize your will, trust documents, and other estate-planning details, there's one more important step to take: finding a safe, accessible place to store it all—and communicating its location to the relevant people.

"It may seem obvious, but you'd be surprised how many estate owners fail to think this through—leaving heirs scrambling to track down essential information amid their grief," says Austin Jarvis, director of estate, trust, and high-net-worth tax at the Schwab Center for Financial Research. He suggests the following three steps to make the process easier.

Create or track down physical copies of:

• All relevant legal documents, including:
  • Advance directives for health care 
  • Last will and testament
  • Powers of attorney (POAs)
  • Trust documents
• Assets and liabilities: Make a list of your financial and physical assets and all debts, including their dollar value, if available.
• Life insurance policies: Highlight the cash value and death benefits for ease of review.

It's best to store originals in either a fireproof safe or a safe deposit box, with the documents placed inside a water-resistant plastic pouch. In most states your POA can give your agent the power to access your safe deposit box, but that power must be explicitly mentioned. Also, your agent must have the original POA to access the safe deposit box, so don't store the document there.

"A safe deposit box can be a good place for your will and a thumb drive with digital copies of important documents, whereas a fireproof safe may be better for documents you might need to access more quickly, such as health care directives or POAs," Austin says.

Storing copies of important documents in an alternate location—such as with your executor or an adult child—can save a lot of heartache should you lose access to the originals. "Estate planning is all about preparing for the unexpected, so creating backup copies is a natural part of that," Austin says.