Getting Your Important Documents in Order

A big part of being prepared has to do with being able to get your hands on important documents when you need them.  If your SO dies, if your house ends up underwater (literally), if you end up on life support, if you need to exit the country quickly...the number of "what ifs" is long but the short answer to these problems is to have the documents you need, when you need them.

First, here are the documents you need:

• Your Will
• Your Living Will
• Your medical power of attorney
• Birth certificates/baptism records (of all family members)
• Death certificates (for any family members)
• Citizenship/immigration papers
• Your marriage certificate
• Final disposition on any legal cases (divorce decrees, bankruptcy filings, adoptions, criminal cases, civil cases, etc)
• Passports (for all family members)
• Insurance documents (home, life, health, auto)
• Education records/professional licenses
• Military service records
• Property titles (for cars, boats, homes, etc)
• Investment and pension records (bearer bonds, stock certificates, 401k, pension plans, etc)
• Household inventory
• Medical records/current prescription records/immunization records
• Driver's license, social security card, concealed carry license
• Financial records (bank info, credit card info, prior years' tax returns, private loan documentation, etc)
• Proof of ownership (patents, copyrights, burial lots, etc)
• "Lost kit" for each family member (include recent photos, photos of identifying marks, fingerprints, DNA sample, height/weight/eye color/hair color)

Then, you need to scan all of these items into your computer:

• Scan copies of these items into a password protected file on your computer
• Buy or borrow a scanner (you can use one at the library but you probably don't want all of your sensitive documents laying about where others can see them)

Then you need to back up these files which reside on your computer:

• Some people swear by backing up things to the cloud; I don't recommend this
• Back up all of these files to a secure thumb drive then put this thumb drive in a secure place
• Or you can back up these files to an external hard drive (which, of course, will need to be kept in a secure location)

Then you need to place these documents where they are secure and where you can access them quickly if needed (note all of these locations have positive and negative attributes):

• A waterproof, fireproof, hidden home safe
• A private vault
• A safe deposit box
• A secure, hidden cache

50 Important Documents to Keep on Hand

I finally got my new Nevada driver's license.  What with traveling and moving and shuffling stuff in and out of storage, it was a bit of a challenge to get all of the documents together to actually go and apply for the license and although I have copies of all of my important documents on a secure thumb drive, only original documents would do.  So with a bit of effort, all of my documents are now safely residing in a hidden safe in our home.  Here are the documents you should always have on hand:

1. Your driver's license
2. Your social security card
3. Your military ID
4. Your concealed carry license
5. Your birth certificate
6. Your marriage certificate(s)
7. Your divorce decree(s)
8. Your children's birth certificates
9. Your spouse's birth certificate
10. Your passport
11. Your DD214 (for military members)
12. Other military records (VA disability award letter, etc) 
13. Your Will, Living Will, and Power of Attorney
14. Your spouse's Will, Living Will, and Power of Attorney
15. Death certificates (for any spouses and children)
16. Past seven year's tax returns
17. Investment records (stock certificates, bonds, etc)
18. Adoption records (yours, your spouse's, your children's if applicable)
19. Your green card (if applicable)
20. Baptism records (if applicable)
21. Insurance policies (home, life, health, auto)
22. Copyright and patent records
23. Updated immunization records (for you, your spouse, and your minor children)
24. Deeds and titles (for real estate, vehicles, burial plots, etc)
25. An annually updated household inventory
26. List of your debts and credit cards (with account numbers)
27. List of banks and investment firms (with account numbers)
28. Documentation of debts owed to you
29. Citizenship and naturalization documents (if applicable)
30. Education records (high school diploma, college diplomas)
31. Professional licenses (state medical license, cosmetology license, license to practice law, etc)
32. Employment records
33. Medical history (for each family member)
34. Updated list of prescription and non prescription meds for each family member (if applicable)
35. Record of funeral plans
36. An "if I die" letter (include people to call, location of keys/safe codes, location of important records, etc)
37. Pet records (license, vaccination card, etc)
38. Warranties and receipts (for appliances, cars, etc)
39. Updated list of monthly bills (include everything from mortgage to electricity and cable with account numbers)
40. Retirement records (pensions, annuities, IRAs, etc with account numbers)
41. Other medical forms (DNR form, organ donor card, etc)
42. Legal settlement/judgement records (bankruptcy, insurance claims, etc)
43. Child custody records (records should be legal documents that include a parenting plan, custody award, child support order, etc)
44. Real estate records (mortgage, tax assessments, easements, etc)
45. Updates vehicle records for cars, boats, motorcycle, etc (insurance card, registration)
46. A file for tax records (W2 forms, charity and other deductible expenses, etc)
47. A "kidnapping" file, for lack of a better term, for each family member (include recent photo, physical description, photo of tattoos and scars, even a DNA sample)
48. Copies of criminal records (date, charge, disposition, etc)
49. Updated net worth statement
50. A list of user names and passwords for all of your online accounts