Before You Die: Personal Records

Whether you’re a twenty-something young adult or someone fast approaching the century mark, you can die unexpectedly. While no one likes to dwell on that prospect, having your affairs in order will help your family deal with the aftermath. Assuming you’ve already created a will or a living trust, your job isn’t completely over just yet. Help your family by creating a notebook with all of your vital information including assets, liabilities, account numbers, income, bills, and personal data.

By creating a personal records notebook, the executor of your estate will have a handy resource he can use to begin his job. He’ll know which banks you have accounts with, what regular bills he needs to pay and close out, what you currently own and where it’s located, which insurance companies he needs to contact, and more. This saves him the hassle of tearing through your disorganized office in search of important documents and will ease the burden.

First, start with your word processor up and type in the following headings:

• Personal Data (full name, maiden name, date of birth, Social Security Number, etc…)

• Employment History

• Education History

• Past Residences

• Family Members (living and deceased)

• Marriage license/marriage information

• Doctors, dentists, optometrist etc…

• Medical history

• People to notify in case of emergency

• Location of estate planning documents

• Location of tax records

• Location of birth certificate

• Location of passport

• Checking Accounts (institution, account #, approximate balance, passwords,

• Savings Accounts

• Money Market Accounts

• Brokerage Accounts

• Retirement Accounts

• Pension

• College Fund

• Insurance (medical, dental, vision, life, disability, long term care, homeowners, auto, etc…)

• Home ownership records

• Vehicles owned

• Current income

• Monthly bills

• Mortgage and property tax

• Vehicle loans

• Other loans

• Child’s guardian

• Tax preparer

• Executor/representative

• Location of safe deposit box

• Location of safe

• Home alarm

• Other (anything else you can think of)

Now that you have each heading down, you’ll want to go back to each one and fill in as much vital information as possible including account numbers, passwords, and phone numbers. Anything that is potentially useful needs to be entered. For example, do you own a motor home that is usually stored at a storage yard? Unless the executor has been there before, how would he know where it is or even that you own such a thing? List the motor home in the vehicle section along with where it’s stored and the contact information of the storage yard. Don’t overlook little things like your PayPal account and password. What if you recently sold something on eBay and have a large sum sitting in PayPal upon your death?

Print out a copy and put it in a binder. Because of the sensitive nature of this document, it will need to be stored under lock and key. Password-protect your word processing document as well. Let your executor know where the notebook is stored and give him a key to be used upon your death. For example, if it’s stored in your home safe, he’ll need a key to your home along with a key to the safe. Revisit this document every year at tax time and update as needed.