The full document checklist, category by category, including the six things families almost always leave out.
The instinct is to photocopy everything. Resist it. A box of copies goes stale and no institution accepts a photocopy of the thing it cares about anyway. Banks want a certified death certificate. Probate court wants the signed original will, not a scan.
So for most of what follows, the useful entry is not the document. It is a line that says what exists, where the original is, and who to call. "Term life, Northwestern Mutual, policy in the green folder in the office filing cabinet, agent Dana Reyes 555 0134" is worth more than a photocopy of page one.
Keep actual originals for the short list that is painful to replace: the will and trust, deeds and titles, birth, marriage and death certificates, social security cards, passports, military discharge papers, and any signed power of attorney or advance directive.
This is the group someone will ask for first, usually a hospital or a bank, usually with no warning.
Beneficiary forms beat the will. If the 401k names an ex-spouse and the will names the children, the 401k goes to the ex-spouse. Check every retirement account and life insurance policy after any marriage, divorce, birth, or death in the family.
Half of what a family loses in a crisis is not paperwork. It is knowing who to call.
List accounts, not balances. Balances go stale within a month and make the page feel like a target.
These are the gaps we see most often, in the order they cause trouble.
Digital accounts. Not the passwords themselves, which should live in a password manager. What belongs here is the list: which email address is the recovery address for everything, where the password manager is and who has the master key or the emergency access, which accounts hold money (payment apps, crypto, marketplace balances), and which hold memories (photo libraries, the family cloud drive). Losing access to the primary email address is the single most common reason a family cannot get to anything else.
The pets. Vet name, medications, who takes them, and whether that person has agreed.
Anything held only in one person's name. The utility account, the phone line, the family plan. If it is in the name of the person who died, it is the survivor's problem within about two weeks.
The small annuity or pension from a job in 1987. Old employers, old policies, that credit union from a first job. Nobody remembers these except the person who had them.
The people who need to be told. Not just family. The book club, the golf group, the church, the old colleague. A short list spares someone a painful afternoon of guessing.
Where this document itself lives, and who has been told. A finished binder nobody knows about does nothing at all. Tell two people. Write down that you told them.
If you are reading this because someone has already died, the order is roughly this.
Our longer guide to that week is here.
Every checklist on this page, as fillable worksheets you can print and write on.
The Life Binder covers the household: documents, people, health, money, digital life, and what to do if something happens. Print the whole thing or just the page you need, and fill in what you know. The blanks that are left are your list of what to go find.
Download the Life Binder (PDF)Paper goes stale, and that is the one problem no binder or box solves. Hubstone holds the same record and keeps it current, so a changed phone number or a renewed policy updates once instead of in three places.
General information, not legal, medical or financial advice. Requirements differ by state.