Important documents must be stored safely and securely so that a trusted person can find them.
This is true, even if you are the trusted person looking for your own documents. I often receive phone calls and emails from children looking for their parent’s documents. So make it easy for them to help you if there’s an emergency.
Two Types of Document Storage Solutions
Documents should be stored two ways – digitally and physically. Digital storage should include cloud storage. Physical storage includes your home, the bank, or someone else’s home or office.
Cloud storage
Cloud storage is a useful and efficient way to store scanned and other digital format documents in a place that is not on the hard drive of your computer, phone, or other similar devices. There are companies such as Dropbox, OneDrive, GoogleDrive, iCloud, and more, where you can securely store scanned copies of your wills, power of attorney forms, advance directives, beneficiary forms, and more. Your financial planner’s company may also offer this service free of charge. When selecting a company, you want to ensure the storage is password protected and that you don’t lose the passwords!
There are many advantages of storing documents in the cloud: they can be shared, emailed, printed, and reviewed easily. One of the great advantages of using a cloud storage company is it’s hard to misplace digital copies. You can access the files via the internet, anywhere you have internet access using almost any device. Some companies allow you to track who sees your documents so you can limit a document’s circulation among viewers and learn who’s looked at it and when.
Physical Storage
Once you’ve scanned and uploaded your documents to your digital file cabinet, you will also need to store the originals safely. Do not discard the originals. Some companies and the court may require original documents.
Physical storage provides you the comfort of always being able actually to touch your documents. And it may be easier to limit who has access to the actual documents. A big disadvantage is the documents can be lost due to flood or fire. Or, more commonly, a person can remove the documents and then forget to return them to their storage location.
There are limited choices regarding how and where to store your original documents. Many people have a home safe or a place for important papers, such as a file cabinet or box in their closet or under their bed. These are all great options so long as you actually place the documents where they belong.
You can obtain a safe deposit box at your bank if you prefer. But, make sure that you don’t lose the key! If you add someone else to your box, they become a co-owner of the box, and the bank will make it very difficult for the original owner to remove the co-owner’s name. Often when the original owner dies, the bank will not let the Personal Representative have access to the box.
OVERALL
Overall, consider using a combination of cloud upload and convenient physical storage. Most people feel best with their documents uploaded to secure cloud storage and safely physically stored in a home safe.