On this episode of the show I talk about the one place you do NOT want to store your will…
I’ve done will signing after will signing after will signing.
At the end of each session, I always ask my clients, “Now that we’re done, what are you going to do with your estate planning documents? Where are you going to store your will?”
The answers vary, but more often than not I hear people tell me they are going to store their estate planning documents in the one place they should never do so.
The One Place You DO NOT Want To Store Your Will
The answer I hear time and time again is “I’m going to store my will in my safety deposit box.”
Noooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!
Safety deposit boxes are terrible for storing your will for one reason – they cannot be accessed by anyone except you.
I guess that’s not true, exactly. Your people will eventually be able to access your safety deposit box to see if you have a will if you go to court and get an order to do so.
Where Should You Store Your Will?
The thing about storing your estate planning documents is that you need some place that is accessible but secure.
Sounds like an oxymoron, right?
You need accessibility so if anything happens to you your people can get to the documents and use them in the way they were meant to be used.
You need security because you need the documents to stay intact and you want to keep them from falling into the wrong hands (the power of attorney in particular).
If you have an estate planning attorney that’s looking ahead, you might be able to talk them into storing your documents. We offer a service that includes a phone number for 24/7 access and security from the outside world.
This is just one of the examples of the advice and helpful information you can get from working with an estate planning attorney.
Christopher is a Seattle estate planning lawyer with CMS Law Firm LLC. He is a speaker, a blogger, a husband, a father, a golfer, and really good at helping people create the life of their dreams.
