The Legacy Binder of Records and Directives

It is an act of love for parents to provide their adult children ith the information they need to help them as they age. The best way to do this is keep financial, legal and medical records in one binder.

Children should know where this binder is kept. If parents don’t want to disclose financial information, they should at least have the financial and legal contacts listed in case the children need them.

In case of illness, emergency or death, the last thing children should have to deal with is confusion about financial, legal, medical, and end-of-life preferences that they did not know about .

You can create your own binder and insert tabbed sheets for each category. The important thing is to have a system that you can easily update if any information changes.

For everyone’s protection, make sure that any changes are updated and included in the appropriate section in the binder. You will find a list of documents in the appendix of Money Love & Legacy. 

Funeral preferences should be readily available because this is the first thing children will have to deal with. You can keep the binder in a fireproof safe as long as your children know the combination. If you choose to keep the originals in a safety deposit box, be sure adult children are authorized to enter it.