Don't Leave Without It
Notes on a little project
The other day, I completed something I had been putting off for a while. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to take care of it; it’s just that I knew it would be time-consuming. The little project took much less time than anticipated, and I’m so happy I got it done. What I completed was a death binder. Let me explain.
Last summer, someone I know passed away unexpectedly while on vacation. His administrative assistant told me that one thing he’d done to reduce his family’s stress during this awful time was that he had created a death binder a few years prior. In broad terms, she explained what the binder contained and how he assembled it. I tucked this idea away and finally, a year later, decided to work on mine. I know this sounds morbid, but if I suddenly die, I want all my essential information accessible to my family.
I am not an attorney or a financial expert, so none of this is professional advice. It’s just me sharing with you what I put together in the event of my/my husband’s death. I hope what I share here is helpful and causes you to create something similar. Of course, your binder contents may look different than mine, but this can be a starting point for you.
Here’s what our binder contains:
Our Living Trust & Advanced Directives
Life insurance information
Birth certificates, marriage certificate, & social security cards
Bank & credit card account information
Automobile certificates of title (AKA “the pink slip”) and car insurance information
Information regarding our real estate and homeowner’s insurance
Important phone numbers (for an example, see below)
Utilities (account information, when it’s paid, rough monthly estimates)
Email accounts and passwords, device passwords
All other online accounts and passwords
Donation/tithing information (it’s taken out of our bank account monthly)
Health insurance information
Subscription accounts (i.e., magazines, Netflix, Amazon, etc.)
Travel accounts
Specific wishes regarding our deaths (that aren’t outlined in our Trust)
Inventory of jewelry and other valuables
How I Organized the Binder
I used an actual binder with tabs, and each tab contains separate pages and pockets for essential papers. The tabs aren’t in any particular order; it's just how I organized them. Feel free to make yours any way you want!
Each bullet point below represents a different page within the tabs.
Tab 1: VIP
Who to contact in the event of our death:
Our attorney, CPA, and financial advisor with accounts and contact information provided
Family and friends’ contact information
Important information (passwords, accounts, health insurance)
Specific wishes regarding our deaths (that aren’t outlined in our Trust)
Tab 2: Homes
All things home-related:
Mortgage information, property taxes, homeowner’s insurance
Rental income information
All utilities
Tab 3: Financial
All important accounts regarding finances:
Bank accounts
Investments
Credit cards
Donations
Tab 4: Autos
Titles for the automobiles and vehicles we own
Auto insurance information
AAA account information
Tab 5: Travel
These are listed in case points remain in any of these accounts.
Hotel loyalty accounts (i.e., Marriott, Hilton, etc.)
Airline loyalty accounts
Tab 6: Valuables
Inventory of jewelry and other valuables
Tab 7: Miscellaneous
Other account information such as Netflix, online news subscriptions, Amazon, paid Substack accounts, etc. and all the passwords for each account.
Birth certificates
Marriage certificate
Social Security cards
Living Trust (& Will)
Advanced Directives
We will likely add to the binder over time, but for now, it’s sufficient. My husband and I chose to tell our children about the binder, the contents of our Trust, and other financial information so that they’re well-informed.
If you assemble one, please store your binder, Living Trust, and Will somewhere secure. You don’t want this information to fall into the wrong hands!
We hope to live many more years and are taking care of ourselves to make that possible, but you never know what tomorrow brings. We don’t want to burden our family with unnecessary stress and feel that creating this binder helps alleviate some of that. Please let me know if you have any questions.
Have you created anything like this?
I would love to hear about it. We can all learn from each other. 💚
“At the end of life we will not be judged by how many diplomas we have received, how much money we have made, how many great things we have done. We will be judged by "I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat, I was naked and you clothed me. I was homeless, and you took me in.” Mother Teresa
This is a brilliant idea!! It’s difficult enough when someone passes away, without having to figure out the financial and other legal documents. I actually just updated my emergency information on my iPhone, and didn’t realize there’s an option to share your info with emergency services when you call. I opted in for that, for me it makes sense. I love the Mother Teresa quote, so apt. Xx
What a gift to your family, Natalie! Thank you for sharing and listing this all so succinctly! xx