Important Documents Your Aging Parents Should Have — and Where They're Kept

When families start helping aging parents get organized, one of the first questions is usually:

What documents do we need?

But there's another question that may be even more important:

Do we know where those documents are?

You don't necessarily need copies of your parents' will, financial statements, insurance policies and other private papers sitting in your house.

What you do need is a map.

You should know what exists, where the important documents can be found, and who to contact when they're needed.

Here are some of the most important things to ask about.

1. Will and estate documents

Does your parent have a will? If so, where is the signed original?

It also helps to know the name of the attorney who prepared it.

If your parent has a trust, you'll want to know that too, along with where the trust documents are kept and who has been named as successor trustee.

You usually don't need to keep the originals yourself. But the executor or successor trustee shouldn't have to search the house someday trying to figure out whether these documents even exist.

2. Financial power of attorney

A durable financial power of attorney can name someone to handle financial matters if your parent becomes unable to do so.

The important questions are simple:

Does one exist? Who is named? Where is it kept?

If you're the person named to act, you may need to present the document when dealing with a bank or other financial institution. Having ready access to it can make that easier.

3. Healthcare documents

Several documents can be involved here, and they don't all do the same thing.

A healthcare proxy or healthcare power of attorney names someone to make medical decisions when a person cannot communicate those decisions.

A living will or advance directive records wishes about medical treatment.

Your parent may also need to sign a permission or authorization form allowing doctors or other healthcare providers to share information with you. That is different from naming you as their healthcare proxy.

If you're the person your parent wants involved in medical decisions, this is one area where having the appropriate copies available can be important.

4. Financial and retirement accounts

You don't need your parents' passwords, PINs or complete account numbers in a shared family record.

But someone should know where their financial relationships are.

That may include banks, investment firms, IRAs, 401(k)s, pensions and annuities.

Knowing the institution, the type of account, where statements can be found and who to contact can give the family a place to start.

Beneficiary designations are worth reviewing too. Retirement plans have procedures for naming the person who will receive the account, so those designations should be kept current.

5. Insurance

Know which coverage exists and which companies provide it.

• Health and Medicare-related coverage
• Life insurance
• Homeowners or renters insurance
• Auto insurance
• Long-term-care insurance, if applicable

Again, you usually don't need to collect every policy. Knowing that the coverage exists and where the policy or agent information can be found may be what matters most.

6. Home, vehicles and other property

Where is the deed to the house? Is there a mortgage, and who services it?

Where are vehicle titles kept?

If your parents use a safe-deposit box, does someone know which bank it's at? Make sure information the family might need quickly isn't kept only inside the box.

These details can seem unimportant today and become very important very quickly.

7. Personal, tax and benefit records

Know where your parents keep important records such as birth and marriage certificates, divorce records if applicable, recent tax returns and Social Security information.

You don't need to put Social Security or Medicare numbers into a shared family record. Knowing where the authoritative information can be found is safer and fits the purpose of a family map.

It is also helpful to know who prepares your parents' taxes and how to contact that person.

8. Final wishes and arrangements

Has your parent written down funeral or burial wishes?

Have any arrangements already been paid for?

If there is a prepaid funeral contract, cemetery plot or other arrangement, someone in the family should know it exists and where the paperwork is kept.

Otherwise, a family can end up making decisions — or even paying for something — that a parent already took care of years earlier.

The goal isn't to collect everything

Getting organized doesn't mean putting copies of every important document into one giant binder or online account.

And it certainly doesn't mean sharing passwords, PINs, recovery codes, Social Security numbers or other secrets.

The goal is much simpler:

Know what exists. Know where to find it. Know who to contact.

Start with one conversation. Pick two or three of the items above and ask your parents about them.

You don't have to organize their whole life in one afternoon.

If you're not sure where to begin, our Questions to Ask Your Aging Parents guide can help you work through these conversations a little at a time.

And while you're asking your parents these questions, you may discover another worthwhile question:

Would your own family know where to find these things for you?