Which documents to gather for your parent, and where to keep them

How to use this checklist

You are not collecting the documents. You are recording three things about each one: that it exists, where the original is kept, and who already has a copy. That is the whole job, and it can be done without moving anything.

Use three columns and one line per document. Add a fourth column for the date you last checked, because passports expire and policies lapse.

Do this with your parent, not for them, and say plainly what you are doing: making one index so that nobody has to search the house. Ask before you open anything. Ask before you photograph anything.

Photograph rather than remove. Originals should stay where your parent decided they should be, and the index tells you where that is.

Do not write passwords, PINs or account numbers in full into a binder that leaves the house. Record the last four digits and where the full record lives.

Anything that needs drafting or changing — a will, a power of attorney, a trust — is an attorney's job. The index only records that the document exists and where it is.

The documents to gather

Thirty entries, grouped the way a filing drawer is grouped. For each one, record four things: that it exists, where the original is kept, who already has a copy, and the date you last checked.

Work one group at a time, on separate visits if that is easier. Identity and home are the least sensitive and the fastest to finish; the legal group usually needs a conversation before a drawer gets opened.

Where something does not exist, write does not exist and the date. A confirmed gap is as useful as a found document, and it stops you searching the same drawer twice next year.

The four legal entries record location only. Nothing here involves drafting, changing or interpreting a document — an attorney does that, and arriving with a finished index makes that appointment shorter.

• Identity — birth certificate
• Identity — marriage certificate, and any divorce decree
• Identity — passport, with the expiry date noted, plus any naturalization or immigration papers
• Identity — driver's license or state ID, with the expiry date noted
• Identity — Social Security card, or a note of where the number is recorded
• Identity — military discharge papers (DD-214), which are needed for veterans' benefits and some funeral entitlements
• Money — a list of bank accounts: bank, account type, last four digits, and which branch
• Money — Social Security and pension award letters, with the annual statement
• Money — the last three years of tax returns, and the name and number of whoever prepares them
• Money — retirement and investment account statements, one recent statement each
• Money — safe deposit box: which bank, where the key is, and who is named on the box
• Money — outstanding loans and credit cards, with the account numbers recorded as last four digits
• Money — a list of automatic payments and direct debits, and which account each one leaves from
• Home — the deed, or the lease and the landlord's contact details
• Home — the mortgage statement, or a note that the mortgage is paid
• Home — property tax bills for the current year
• Home — homeowners or renters insurance policy, with the policy number and the claims phone number
• Home — utility accounts: provider, account number, and whether the bill is paperless
• Home — service contracts for heating, alarm, stairlift or yard, and who to call for each
• Home — alarm codes, key safe codes, and a list of everyone who holds a key
• Insurance — Medicare, Medicaid or plan cards front and back, plus the prescription drug plan card and its plan year
• Insurance — any supplemental or advantage policy, with the plan name and member number
• Insurance — long-term care policy, with the policy number and the claims phone number
• Insurance — life insurance policies, with the insurer, the policy number and where the original is
• Legal record only — the will: that it exists, its date, where the original is kept, and the attorney's name. An attorney drafts and updates it
• Legal record only — power of attorney documents, financial and healthcare: the date, who is named, and where the original is
• Legal record only — advance directive or living will: where it is kept, and whether the doctor's office already has a copy
• Legal record only — trust documents and any prepaid funeral or burial contract, with the provider name and contract number
• Digital — a list of online accounts and email addresses, and where the password manager or password list is kept. Record where, not what
• Index page — one sheet at the front: document, location, who has a copy, date checked

Where the index should live

One master copy, in a binder, at your parent's house, in the place your parent chooses. That is the copy that gets updated.

One photograph of the index page on your phone, and one in a shared folder that your siblings can open. Not the documents themselves — just the index. That way any of you can answer where is the insurance policy at eleven at night without anyone driving anywhere.

One printed copy in your own house, dated. Reprint it whenever the index changes, and shred the old one rather than filing it, so there is never a question of which version is current.

Tell your parent exactly who has which copy, and write that down too. If a document moves, the index gets updated the same day — this is the only rule that keeps the index worth having.

Check the whole index once a year, on a date you choose and repeat. Birthdays work because you will not forget them.

Questions