Document Storage

One of the estate planning considerations that is not discussed a lot is document storage. Where should you keep your estate planning documents?

There are quite a few options on this front. But here are some things that you need to know…

First, as a general rule, the Probate Court needs the original will. The actual set of papers that you and the witnesses signed. A copy is not treated the same as an original.

Second, I personally believe that the original will should be stored where the family members would go to look for it. To me this means in the fire proof safe at your home. Family members probably aren’t all that likely to go to the attorney who prepared the will. They probably don’t know who that attorney would be. Also, that attorney may predecease you.

Additionally, I don’t know that family members are likely to think to go to that safety deposit box either.  Maybe they would.  Speaking of safety deposit boxes…if that is your storage option, please know that there are extra steps to get a will out of a safety deposit box. Someone must go to probate court, get appointed to be allowed to go examine a safety deposit box, and report back on the contents of that box. All of this is required to simply retrieve a will from that safe box. And this process assumes this family member knows: (1) the bank; (2) the branch of that bank; and (3) the location of the key to that safety deposit box. I’m not saying that the safety deposit box is a bad option. I merely want everyone to understand what is involved.

While it’s important to have a will, it’s even more important to have a will that the family members can find. Don’t forget to think about document storage.