Take Great Estate Planning Tips One Step Further

This recent article from The New York Times is full of great tips, and some of them can be taken one step further:  http://nyti.ms/1uF4AkS.

It is usually best to keep everything related to your estate plan in one place.  Make sure that the people who are supposed to carry out your estate plan know where it is.  If you put it in a safe, make sure someone knows the combination.  If you put it in a safe deposit box, make sure someone can access the box.  Oregon has a special statute to let us get your Will out of your safe deposit box, but not your Advance Directive or Power of Attorney.

If we can’t find your estate plan, we may not be able to carry out your wishes.

Similarly, make sure that the people you’ve named to carry out your estate plan are comfortable with their roles.  It’s no good naming someone to make end-of-life decisions for you if they “can’t handle it” and refuse to act.

Additionally,  keep a list of your user names and passwords for online accounts somewhere that they are secure, but can be found.  You can keep a list in a safe or in your safe deposit box.  If you change passwords often, you may wish to use an online storage service for your passwords, such as Dashlane.  Then, access to that one account grants access to all others.

Tip:  If you don’t have somewhere secure to keep your estate plan, you can usually find a small fireproof safe at Home Depot or a similar store for around $100.