Important documents checklist
You never know when you'll need an important document. Use this important documents checklist to have them at your fingertips!
Most people are organized enough to have many of the documents listed below. However, they may not be gathered together into one safe place. Generally, this isn’t a problem, until the day arrives when something is immediately needed. Use this important documents checklist as a guide to start collecting your documents together into one place for safe-keeping.
- Adoption paperwork
- Banking Paperwork
- Birth Certificates
- Contracts & warranties (big ticket items)
- Credit Card Information
- Death certificates
- Deeds and mortgage (inc. professional appraisals)
- Divorce decrees
- Insurance policies - life, home, renter, auto, etc.
- Medical paperwork
- Lease paperwork
- Marriage license
- Military paperwork
- Naturalization/Citizenship paperwork
- Old Drivers License (good to have an old one in case of loss)
- Passports (old and new)
- Passwords
- Patents and copyrights
- Powers of Attorney (those you hold for others)
- Proof of benefits or disability paperwork
- Social Security cards
- Social Security Statements for retirement
- Stocks and bond certificates
- Tax returns
- Titles - vehicle, boat, 4-wheelers, etc.
- Wills - living will, power of attorney, etc.
What important documents do you really need?
Use your discretion, and imagination, on what documents would be needed:
- to prove a situation
- easily re-establish an account
- make life easier to conduct if they were quickly accessible in one spot
Some things, like medical records or stock accounts, can now be safely accessed via portals that you sign up for. However, it becomes an issue if you can’t remember your passwords. You don’t want others to have access to your passwords, yet most people do have them written down somewhere. Put a copy of that in a secure place with your important documents just in case they get misplaced.
Skilled Nursing & Medicaid Requirements
It's a rude awakening to find that if you are the caregiver for someone that needs to quickly be moved into skilled nursing, the requirements for Medicaid assistance can be daunting. They will request a 5 year lookback on many accounts, including bank statements, life insurance policies, all financial accounts and much more. See Medicaid Long-Term Assistance Application Tips for an overview of their requirements. If you are a caregiver and have access to your loved ones documents, it would be a good idea to start and keep collecting them now in an organized manner to avoid a stress-filled rush to gather them when they're needed.
You can count on Margie Yohn, Realtor® & Seniors Real Estate Specialist®, to guide you through seniors issues --either yours or on behalf of an elderly loved one -- with the goal to inform, educate and advocate for transitions that are less stressful and more successful. For Seniors On The Move!