When I see new clients, one of the first things I ask them is whether they have any existing estate planning documents. Is there a Trust, Will, Financial Power of Attorney, Advance Health Care Directive? Often I find out that clients have to search through their files to bring me the requested paperwork. Documents are missing pages, several copies of the same thing—many with no signatures. Some people are fearful of throwing anything away; others are foes of clutter, shredding everything in sight!
It is important to keep a copy on hand of each of these documents, and to keep the Original Signature Documents in a Safe Deposit Box or Fire Safe. Unsigned copies should be shredded, to avoid creating confusion. Only the most current documents should be kept, and the rest shredded. ONE EXCEPTION: you should never shred your original Trust, unless it has been revoked. Changes to your Trust, such as Amendments or Restatements should be kept with your Trust, since they are tied to the existence of the original Trust.
Your Executor/Trustee should know that you have a Trust and your Attorney’s information. One of my clients was a niece helping her very ill uncle. The only way we found out that he had a Trust was to look at the title for his house. Then she had to hunt through all of his records to find the documents. Since she was able to find his Trust and Power of Attorney, I was able to help her take charge of his accounts for his benefit very quickly; otherwise we would have had to go to Court to apply for a Conservatorship, which defeats the purpose of having your Estate Planning documents done in the first place.
Tax season is over. Now is the time to make a point of organizing all your paperwork while we are in between seasons and busy holidays.
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