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Planning
26 MONTANA SENIOR NEWS • FEBRUARY | MARCH 2023
Documents, Documents,
Where Are the Documents??
Anna included her social security card, her digital backups to paper documents. These
BY HOLLY ENDERSBY will, the health care and financial power of drives are very secure, stored on a remote
attorney she had given my husband, her computer system that’s easily accessible
My mother-in-law’s recordkeeping was birth and marriage certificates, the deed to to you and others you designate by giving
a nightmare. She arrived at our house one day her home, and title to her car. If Anna had verification codes.
with a handful of papers asking me what she had a passport, that important document If this sounds confusing, a full-service
should do with them. The “papers” turned would have been added as well. bank, your CPA, your financial advisor, or
out to be bearer bonds, which anyone could While we opted for an in-home fire proof one of your skookum relatives—probably
cash with no questions asked. safe, bank safety deposit boxes are another an older grandchild—can help you transfer
Anna’s “fail-safe” method was to store easy way to keep important papers: just be these important papers digitally.
important papers in manilla envelopes with sure someone has the access code and key These documents were critically import-
cash stashed in freezer containers, instead to get into the box and the legal authority ant after Anna got seriously ill. When she
of in a safety deposit box at the bank. to do so. With weather extremes happening could no longer drive, we were able to sell
Keeping Anna’s important records safe more regularly, keeping documents in a her car and deposit the proceeds directly
suddenly became project Number One. bank safety deposit box might be the wisest into her bank account. Shortly thereafter
ENSURE SECURITY AND EASY ACCESS way to protect documents from fires, floods, it became clear Anna would never return
TO IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS hurricanes, and tornadoes. home, so with the proper documents and
Having important papers secure, yet KEEP BACKUPS IN THE CLOUD deed, my husband was able to put her home
easy to find and use when needed, is a Now that we’re firmly in the digital age, on the market.
challenge for many older folks, but with a experts recommend storing digital copies of Anna was lucky. Her home was paid
little work, it can be accomplished. your important documents in “the cloud.” for, and she had no other outstanding
The most critical documents I gathered Apple iCloud, Google Drive, or Microsoft debts, but our resources were too taxed to
and secured in a small fire-proof safe for OneDrive can all provide peace of mind for pay for the full-scale assisted living her
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