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My husband and I have been reviewing our estate planning documents recently, and that’s served as a reminder that 1) we need to finish the process of getting them updated & signed and 2) we need to put together all of our information in a place that we both have access to. As it is now, if one of us should die, the other would only have a general idea of what needed to be paid when, etc. It’s likely that we could both figure things out with some digging in the file cabinet and hard drives, but still, that type of uncertainty is an unnecessary stress that I don’t want to put anyone through. And if both of us should die, I think anyone trying to figure things out would be pretty much clueless. If you don’t have this type of thing done, I highly recommended getting it done. It can make a world of difference.

When putting together an “in case of death” list, put it together as if the person who will be dealing with it is going in completely blind. (Because they just might be: death or disability doesn’t always happen in the neat or logical order that you’d planned, and the person dealing with your estate or household may not be who you’d expected it to be.) Just be sure to keep all of the information in a very, very safe (but also accessible) location. Here is a list of what I plan to include:

- My full name, address, & telephone number
- My social security number
- My birth date & location
- Copy of my birth certificate & marriage license
- My mother’s maiden name, birth date & location (since security features often ask for that)
- Names & contact information for family members & friends, and their relationship to me
- Contact information for my son’s dad
- Custody information & schedule
- Listing of previous jobs held & my job function & typical duties (in case someone needs to file for disability through Social Security on my behalf)
- Listing of my educational & business background (again for Social Security)
- Names & contact information for my doctor & dentist
- Names, addresses, phone numbers and account numbers of my banks (online & physical) & credit union
- Types of accounts, and what they are used for
- Where the checkbooks are kept
- Password to Quicken
- Password & location of backups
- Safe deposit box information & listing of contents
- Names, contact information, & account numbers of retirement & investment accounts
- Listing of my credit card & account information
- Listing & account information for all bills
- Due dates for bills
- Listing of which bills are auto-paid from which account when
- Listing of which bills must be paid manually
- Copy of my credit report (just in case)
- Online access information for all accounts
- Names and policy numbers for life insurance policies
- Names, policy numbers, and provider information (or where to access it) for health insurance policies
- Names & policy information for disability & long term care policies, if any
- Email account information (login, password & what the emails are used for)
- Blog info
- Where to find all necessary business-related info for each business
- Who to contact to help with either keeping the businesses running or closing them
- Name & contact information of my accountant
- Name & contact information of my lawyers
- Location of tax documents
- Location of will, general power of attorney, health care power of attorney, & living will
- A letter

That seems like a big list, but I have the feeling I’m forgetting something. Does anyone else have a similar list? I’ve thought about using something like the Loved One’s Kit (affiliate link) but I don’t believe that’s really necessary.

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