Once you have gone through the process of selecting an experienced estate planning lawyer to help you document your wishes in Massachusetts, make sure that you store these materials in a secure and safe location. While it is important to be sure that these are unlikely to suffer damage in a flood or a fire, you need to ensure they are also accessible to your personal representative. This is the person that you appoint to handle the affairs of your estate after you pass away.
We generally recommend that a fireproof filing cabinet or safe, that is also waterproof, is a good idea for holding your documents. Although a safe deposit box might be the first thing you think of when it comes to storing these documents, it is not always easy for a personal representative to get access to the safe deposit box and you would need to name a joint owner on the account.
It is not enough to just store your estate planning documents safely, however. The personal representative should also have the necessary information to find where they are located, so that these can be accessed quickly and easily. The representative should know where the key is located or the proper combination to unlock the safe if and when something happens to you. Doing this ahead of time will make it that much easier for the people that you appoint in this position of authority to be able to take prompt and effective action on your behalf.
Do you need more help figuring out what and how to store your most important details for your estate plan? Our Massachusetts estate planning office is here to help.
